The Dreaming Dragon
by PaperSnow
Summary: Unnervingly creepy, the Illex Forest should never be underestimated. Neither should a scorned Rocket Executive bent on revenge, or the depths to which people can sink when faced with the unknown.
1. Demons Among Us

To say that the Illex Forest was creepy was definitely an understatement. Even during the brightest and hottest days of summer, the interior of the forest still remained dark and cool, all in thanks to the plentiful, lush foliage that made up the area. Though despite how innocent trees and bushes could be, the Illex Forest was a place more insidiously sinister than the Lake of Rage. It's twisting, scattered paths could put a maze to shame and the tricks that the deep shadows played could drive even a Gengar insane with fear and anxiety. And its high canopy, thick enough to completely restrict a quick, winged escape, was definitely of no help.

So to say that the Illex Forest _at night_ was creepy… Well, what sort of statement was that? Eyes shut tightly and hands clasped together, as in prayer, at her chest, Otomé tried not to dwell on that useless mystery. Yes, the Illex Forest was a scary place, with its dark, baleful shadows, twisted by what little moonlight there was into scary shapes… With those echoing, scary sounds… It was so quiet, as if she were the only living thing now… So quiet…

"Quag?"

"Aiyeeeeeee!" The teenager screeched in a frighten manner, snapping her eyes open and trying to jump back from the creature—surely sinister!—who had addressed her. But her foot found unstable purchase on a slick, mossy rock and as a result, she lost her balance and ended up sprawled out on the roots of a tall tree, the bag she had had slung over one shoulder slipping free of her grasp and landing no more than a foot to her left (thankfully, it stayed closed). In concern, a light blue Quagsire waddled over and peered down at her.

"Quag?"

Shaking off her minute daze, Otomé stared up at the creature's beady, ebony eyes. "Oh… It's just you, Umi…" She concluded with a frown, unmoving for another moment before wearily pulling herself up into a sitting, cross-legged position. In a slightly defeated manner she sighed heavily and hung her head. "Oh Umi, I hate this forest. It creeps me out so much. Next time I see that Nightmare, I'm really gonna make him pay for this!" With a sympathy that bordered on pity, the Quagsire patted the girl's shoulder with a flipper-like hand.

"Sire…"

Still with her head bowed, the teenager slowly regained her feet and proceeded to brush the damp moss and dirt from her legs and backside before retrieving her normal-sized bag with another, though softer, sigh. After a thoughtful pause, she looked down at her Quagsire, who now stood beside her with its head cocked at an angle. "Well…," the girl began. "At least he didn't follow us here. By Suicune's spots, what a nightmare, no pun intended, it would be if the shadows weren't as harmless as they should be…."

"Qua… Si…." As best as it could, the Water/Ground-Type frowned. Giving her companion a pat on the head, Otomé regained a characteristic grin. "But let's get out of here as quick as we can," she suggested as she finally continued walking. "This place creeps me out more than blondie's grin did." Instinctively squeaking, the water creature waddled clumsily in an effort to keep the distance between it and its apparent mistress from growing any larger.

* * *

Unlike most, the resounding scream that reached his ears did not startle him. No, it didn't even faze him, nor strike up concern within him. Many years ago had he become completely desensitized to such shrieks. Slowly, he opened his eyes, sweeping his gaze to and fro below him to see if he could locate the source of the scream. In the severe lack of light, his eyes were almost a perfect black. The slender form such stunning eyes belonged to was crouched expertly upon a rather wide branch of one of the many trees that lined the single path that led to the Azalea Town entrance of the Illex Forest. Though he was hidden still a fair distance away from the only way out, he still had seen a decent amount of people pass. Fools. The lot of them; Coming into a forest that seemed to be known for causing disappearances that no one questioned… Bad for them, but delightful for him. If only Hoenn had had a place in which he could kill and the victim's absence would not looked into so deeply, if at all.

A soft growling from below, from the darkness that lay beyond the seemingly safe path, brought him from is viciously cruel thoughts. Gleaming, emerald eyes were staring straight up at him. "Hush you!" He hissed in a tone no louder than a whisper. "It was hard enough finding a hiding place big enough for your bulk! Don't make my work go to waste by giving yourself away!" When those same eyes rolled in defiance at him, he quickly snapped a thick twig from a near-by branch and took care to aim before throwing. The cloaked creature growled when the twig hit it right between the eyes.

"Be quiet!" He ordered again, more firmly this time. "Or else someone might hear you!"

"I hate this forest. I hate this forest. I hate this forest. I hate this forest…" He instantly froze when he picked up on the second voice, his breathing slowing greatly in an effort to minimize the chances of being discovered. Dark eyes transfixed on the end of the path further from the exit (or entrance. Whichever), he didn't have to wait long until the next potential prey appeared in sight, strolling casually but gingerly along the grassless route with a Quagsire at her side. Despite all the branches obscuring his gaze, he managed to get a decent look at her as she walked.

Like everyone else had, she paid no heed to the canopy above her, instead focused on the approaching exit in a tunnel-minded-like manner. Her oblivion to the danger above only caused a small grin to tug at the corners of his mouth. Foolish girl… Really! Was all of Johto so silly and naïve? He would've left Hoenn sooner, had he known things would be so easy!

But as much as he hated to admit it, the girl was somewhat pretty, in an innocent way. Her hair, the surrounding darkness not withstanding, was a vivid shade of blue—a shade reminiscent of the sky—and clasped into two Ponyta-tails, one each behind her ears. Though it was a strange hairstyle. Instead of falling down along her back, the Ponyta-tails curved up and outward from their bases, each one a good twelve inches long at the least. How the girl had managed this gravity-defying hairstyle was beyond him, but obviously it must have taken a great amount of the strongest hair gel.

Her hair aside, the girl seemed pretty normal. Late teens, maybe? With an indigo blue tank top that had some sort of star on the chest, faded jean shorts rolled up at the hems, and a pair of unimpressive running shoes. She probably didn't have many valuables on her, if any at all. Though bounty was simply an added bonus. He didn't need a reason, much less a valid one, to kill, especially when that voice in the back of his head bade him to. His grin slowly widening, a familiar growl abruptly brought him back from the plans of how he would murder the girl below. With disdain, he watched as the same growl brought said girl to a halt as well and silently he cursed. Stupid dragon. Why couldn't it just keep its mouth shut? Now they'd probably be discovered!

No, wait… _He_ wouldn't be discovered. _He_ was high up from the ground, well hidden in the shadows of the trees, while that dumb beast was down on the forest floor, mere meet away from the frighten-looking teenager. And while his dragon may unwittingly betray him, the night, the darkness, would not. It never had and it never would.

"Umi, what was that?!" In a slight panic poorly-disguised with calm, Otomé glanced around quickly, once again clutching her hands to her chest. Sure, there were all kinds of Pokémon in the Illex Forest—mostly birds and insects, though—but she was certain that none of them could growl so viciously like that.

"Quag!" The Wooper Evolute answered boldly as it waddled to stand before its mistress in a brave attempt to protect her from whatever might lie beyond. The figure above rolled his eyes at such a display. Well fine. They'd just die together. In a manner best to prevent drawing attention to himself, he leaned over the branch he was positioned on and as the duo below occupied themselves with wondering aloud, he murmured sarcastically to his beast, "Nice job… Since this is YOUR fault, YOU get to take care of it. Kill them both." Another growl, this time louder as there was no point to staying quiet any longer, was his answer. Fearfully, the teenager on the path squeaked.

"Ihatethisforest. Ihatethisforest. Ihatethisforest. Ihatethisforest. Ihatethisforest," she repeated over and over to herself in a chant-like fashion and almost jumped out of her skin when the bushes and trees a few feet ahead and to the left of the path began to rustle almost violently. "Eeeeeeee!!" Her frightened screech died away when the massive, azure beast lumbered from its hiding place and onto the path before them, turning slowly to face the two with a menacing glare and bared fangs. Such a look elected another scream from her. "By Suicune's spots, what is that?!" If only she had one of those PokéDex things! But only Professor Oak of Kanto gave those out and even then only to trainers who managed to make a remarkable impression on him.

Luckily, she could tell almost right away that the behemoth before her was a Dragon-Type. It would be shameful if she, all of people, was not able to recognize that spicy, dusty scent that was so characteristic of dragons. But it was a dragon she had never seen before… It was completely light blue, save for its underbelly and lower jaw, which were an off-white, and its throat and axe-shaped wings, which were both an orange-ish red. Eyebrow-like eye ridges were also this same red shade. And protruding from the sides of its head were fin-like spikes.

Unfortunately, while the blue-haired girl was distracted by her terrified awe, the beast used the lowered defenses to attack, rearing up slightly to spit a long column of flame at the duo. With battle-driven reflexes, while its mistress still had yet to register the Flamethrower, the Quagsire sprang into action and warded off the scorching assault with a huge wall of translucent white that sparkled; Protect. Having been snapped back her wits by the counter, Otomé was already rummaging around in the bag for the rest of her team. "I have no idea what you are, but I'll turn you into a dragon popsicle if you insist on getting in my way! I've got to get to Blackthorn as fast as I can or _you_ will be the least of my worries!" Such brave words for someone who seemed to be afraid of the darkness. Though much to her surprise, such words only provoked the blue beast further.

"Sire!" Her Pokémon's startled cry brought her to attention once more.

"What is it, Um-" She silenced herself immediately when she caught sight of the small flames now beginning to take home in the fauna around. The Protect had not dissipated the fire on contact, but rather shielded against it and forced it in a different direction. "Gah! The forest! Umi! Bub-"

"'Blackthorn'?" A dully voice from above interjected before she could finish giving the command. There was another rustle, this time bringing the girl's eyes to a branch placed at the side of the path and nearly twice her height up. The meager light was dim, but she could still make out a form. "Now what would someone like _you_ have to do in Blackthorn?"

With indignance, she shot back tartly, "I'm Otomé Yumé _**OF**_ Blackthorn City and I've been summoned. If I don't make it back as soon as I can, I'll be murdered by Gymleader Clair!"

"'Otomé'?" The voice—she could tell it was masculine—echoed again in a bored tone. "Perhaps I'll remember that name… Perhaps I won't… But I'm afraid you have a bigger problem on your hands than being murdered…" Almost as an afterthought, he added, "By a Gymleader, anyway."

Annoyed and frightened but refusing to show the latter, she pulled a minimized Luxury Ball from her bag. "Fine! If you and your overgrown lizard won't get out of my way, I'll have Miho prove I wasn't kidding about the popsicle remark!" With a frown, she restored the ball to its appropriate size and hurled it at the fearsome dragon before her, the creature batting it away with a powerful swipe. The sphere hit a tree to the right of them and cracked open, almost as if broken, but once a crimson beam of light had escaped from it, the ball resealed itself and dropped harmlessly to the mossy ground. The light, now free from its constraint, shot up and arced above the dragon's head, slamming into the ground a few feet away before it and instantaneously beginning to take on shape.

Thickening and elongating, it was mere seconds before the light dimmed to leave a massive, snake-like creature in its place. A good two-thirds of the new beast was a light tan color, the last third patterned in the fashion of blue and red stained glass and ending in a fan-like fin. It was more huge than the dragon; at least twenty feet in length, most of its body folded into a coil to permit it to fit into the small space that was the tree-lined path. At this sight, he narrowed his dark eyes.

A Milotic! How had she gotten a hold of such a rare creature? He had seen almost no Hoennian Pokémon since arriving in Johto and it seemed only foreigners carried them. Regardless of how she obtained such a prize, he had to be more wary now. He had doubted that that puny Quagsire knew any Ice-Type attacks, much less _strong_ ones, but the Milotic was now a different story. It was quite capable of learning the art of summoning and controlling a deadly Blizzard.

"Overconfident, are we?" He remarked in an arrogant manner as he stood on his branch and carelessly jumped down, landing perfectly on both feet without being forced down by momentum too much. Straightening, he was now standing beside his beast, the ever growing fires around them illuminating him. And as much as Otomé hated to admit it, he was somewhat cute. The complete black that he wore contrasted almost violently with his pale skin, but it matched so well with his dark eyes. His hair was an odd silver and spiked, and it was hard to tell his height, as that dragon of his made him look small. But surely, he was not much older than her!

"I doubt you'll defeat me, no matter what you do," he stated with an arrogant confidence that provoked her further. "If you're from Blackthorn, I'm sure you know the power of dragons…"

"And being from Blackthorn, I also know their weakness!" She threw back in heated annoyance. Before the girl could issue forth a command to her water serpent though, the blue dragon had launched itself straight at its new opponent, dagger-like claws bared and glowing softly. Unable to dodge due a combination of the confinement of the path and her own bulk, the Milotic was forced to take the blow and howled beautifully in pain as the Dragon Claw made contact with the soft scales that covered the tan part of her body. But having foreseen such an outcome, the Tender Pokémon had begun to charge up her first attack, her thick tail glowing a silver by the time the assault landed. And before the blue dragon could jump away, she swung her hardened tail at him, the fan on the end looking sharp and fatal.

But Miho had timed it too poorly and thus gave her opponent the few seconds it needed to spring into the space above her and the canopy, its momentum carrying it over her and closer to her trainer. There was enough of a distance between Otomé and her Milotic to allow the beast to land between them and out of instinct to prevent any harm from befalling her mistress, the Feebas Evolute lashed out once more with her Iron Tail. How strange it was to hear such a behemoth whimper but that's exactly what the dragon did when the attack not only made contact, but the momentum of the lash forced the Iron Tail around its neck. Quickly, the beast recovered and dipped his head, bending his neck at strange angle in an attempt to sink his fangs into the poorly-protected tail.

Caught up in the fast-paced fight between the two reptiles, the blue-haired girl didn't seem to take heed of the absence of the dark-eyed boy. Lucky for him, as he traversed amongst the shadows of the forest surrounding the path as silently as a ghost, one hand on the hilt of the sword that hung sheathed at his side. Stupid girl, always letting her guard down. Such an easy kill seemed almost boring, but he was not picky. Blood was blood. With only the slightest sound, he drew out his sword as he stepped back onto the path from the forest, now behind the girl so enthralled with the match before her. Her Milotic was actually putting up a decent fight… For that, he'd kill her relatively quickly. In a way reminiscent of the Grim Reaper, the silver-haired boy stalked closer to his prey, stopping less than a foot behind her. He could've easily rested his chin on the top of her head, had he been so inclined. But he only wanted a single thing and before Otomé could register the presence behind her, she felt the edge of his sword press against her throat.

Nothing else mattered now, as time seemed to slow. He didn't notice that both her Quagsire and Milotic had turned their attentions to him, each one crying out with rage. They were unimportant. For the moment, it was just him and the blue-haired girl, the terror he sensed emanating from her tense body starting to give him a sadistic high. But for some reason, he couldn't press his blade closer to her throat, much less rip it away in an action that would result in a fatal wound. Nothing was holding him back but his own will, yet he, a wanted serial killer, could not seem to bring himself to slice the girl's soft throat. Distracted by this puzzling turn of events, the boy still did not pay heed to the two Water-Types. Both had launched themselves at him, but the dragon had grabbed Miho's tail and pulled her back, leaving the Quagsire the only one left to defend their mistress.

Had he continued to ignore them for a second longer, that damned Water Fish Pokémon would've surely knocked him away with a fierce Headbutt. But at the last second, he had snapped from his thoughts and jumped back, pulling his sword away and only leaving a thin line of red on his would-be victim's throat. Though before he had time to dispose of the annoying Quagsire, there was a '_crack!_' sound and a second beam of light appeared, this time shooting out of the top of the girl's bag. It, too, arced over head before landing squarely between the killer and its mistress, the materializing Pokémon growing to be quite bulky and looming. It stood on two feet yet seemed to be hunched over, rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth lining its open maw.

The thing was quick for its size, though. While he was still racking his brain for any knowledge of what this new creature might be, it drew back an arm, its clawed fist suddenly starting to glow with an icy-colored fire before it lunged forward a single, massive step and launched its fist forward, growling savagely as the Ice Punch connected dead-on with the dragon trainer's chest. From far away, he heard his blue dragon scream angrily at the underhanded assault, but all his mind could focus on was pain. Pain and cold. He hated the cold, with a passion. A passion surpassed only by his hatred of the water. With luck, though, the ice numbed him just enough to prevent him from feeling the pain of being sent tumbling backwards and slamming into the compacted ground. The impact forced the breath from his lungs and for a few seconds he was too dazed to remember to breathe.

Another angered scream from his beast snapped the teenager to his wits again and loudly, he gasped, coughing once or twice as he struggled to sit up. He did not enjoy the sight that lay before him now. That damned Quagsire and what turned out to be a Feraligatr were now standing firmly between him and their mistress and behind them, he could see his Pokémon still wrestling with that Milotic. A single Salamence could not distract or even defeat three Water-Types, especially when they all stood a chance to know Ice-Type attacks that could KO. He was caught between a rock and a hard place now, but stubborn, he would not give up.


	2. Make the Devil Feel Surprise

People had always told him that he was more headstrong than a Tauros. And even more prideful. So even when the tides of this event he had started seemed to now be turning against him, the thought of conceding defeat was no where in the silver-haired boy's mind. But grudgingly, he accepted the realization that no matter how hard he may try now, his chances of successfully murdering the girl were about as great as the chances of Ho-Oh suddenly descending upon them from the skies right at that very moment. And as a professional in what he did, leaving a witness didn't sit too well with him. Regardless, preserving _his_ own life was more important than stealing hers.

Warily, the dragon trainer eyed the two blue Pokémon looming in front of him before momentarily shifting his gaze to his Salamence and the Milotic. The fight had seemed to calm, with the latter more interested in protecting her mistress than in her opponent. If the watery group could just be distracted… Dark eyes sweeping the path again to make sure the plan formulating in his head could be accomplished, the boy slowly picked himself off the ground and stood ready, looking past the girl and her creatures to lock gazes with his own beast. The two of them did not require words, having been stuck with one another for so long.

But the tense silence that had settled down over them now unnerved Otomé. Did he have a trick up his sleeve? He was outnumbered and yet he just stood there, face blank, as if waiting for something. It was during this temporary peace that she also suddenly realized that the tiny licks of flame from the blue dragon's earlier Flamethrower now had grown into strong, albeit small, fires. He had interrupted her before she could finish commanding her Quagsire to extinguish them, and between the battle and almost getting killed, she had quickly forgotten.

"Aiyeee! Umi! Put out those fires!" The girl immediately ordered, the Water Fish Pokémon obeying without second thought. Hopping over to the nearest flame, the Wooper Evolute was quick to put it out with a well-placed gush of water from its mouth. Though upon observing this—and how distracted the water trainer now was—the male teenager grinned. _Perfect_.

"Salamence! Now!" He barked suddenly, springing out of the way as his beast suddenly charged forward with a roar, having little regard for the obstacles that stood before it. Otomé and her Pokémon scrambled to get out of the way; Miho had to weave herself among the trees that lined the path, fore the space available was not large enough to accommodate both her bulk and the bulk of the Bagon Evolute; The Feraligatr dived to the right, pulling its mistress down with it to protect the girl from being tackled by what could've very well been a speeding truck; And the Quagsire shrieked in surprise before tumbling backwards into the brush along the edge of the route.

Obediently, the Salamence skidded to a halt once it was close to its master, hunching down to allow him to climb onto its back. And hurriedly the boy did so, grinning smugly as he was now sat astride his great beast's back. "You wield a lot of water," he remarked out loud. "But this is still a forest. And you know very well that my Salamence can breathe fire…"

Still sprawled out on the damp ground due to the force her Big Jaw Pokémon had used to pull her down, her would-be murderer's haughty comments didn't register in the blue-haired girl's head at first. '_What in Suicune's name is he going on about?_' She mused in an aggravated mental tone as she glared up at him. Unfortunately, her rhetorical inquire was answered when the—what had he called his dragon again? A… Sala… Mance? Sala… Mence?—_azure dragon_ pulled its head back and then threw it forward, maw open as yet another Flamethrower was released from its mouth. But this time the target was all the foliage around them.

And before Otomé could do anything but stare in a stunned yet disgusted manner, the boy laughed manically and urged his beast upwards. Without hesitation, the Salamence launched itself at the dense canopy high above, its axe-shaped wings shredding a great many leaves as it climbed higher and higher before hitting the canopy and bursting out of the other side and into the clear, night sky with relative ease.

Down below, the water trainer had already jumped to her feet and pulled from her bag two more Pokéballs. She tossed out the one in her left hand quickly, a burly Poliwrath appearing from the flash of crimson light a few moments later. "Ai! Miho! Umi Nami! Takumi!" She barked in a slightly panicked tone. The fires were getting more worse by the second. "Put out these flames! Bubblebeam, Water Gun, Surf, Hydro Pump, anything! Use anything!" Having enough faith in her team to know that they would carry out her orders immediately, the girl turned away from them without even waiting to check if they would obey. Instead, she pressed the white button in the center of the Pokéball in her right hand to release the creature within.

Despite how the golden beast barely listened to her as its mistress, the Blackthorn native was still proud of her own dragon. The creature was magnificent; a bright shade of gold and a soft shade of white, with large, teal-sailed wings and two gracefully curved antennas placed atop its head. "Kin, c'mon! We've got to chase after the idiot that did this!" Hopefully the Dragonite would not choose this time to sleep or loaf around rather than obey.

Glancing around, the golden dragon surveyed the burning surroundings and her teammates' efforts to quell the fires, then turned its attention back down to its mistress. For a second or two that seemed like an eternity, the Dragon Pokémon did nothing but stare, as though it were debating the merits of helping out. Finally, it lowered itself to all four legs and crouched down to allow the girl passage onto its back. Swiftly, Otomé clamored aboard and before she could even situation herself firmly, the Dragonite sprang into the air, zooming out of the same hole in the canopy that the Salamence had made only minutes prior.

The water trainer was honestly surprised to find that dratted boy and his beast still hanging around, lazily swirling around the break in forest top that they had created. "By the Northern Winds!" She cursed, then shouted to him as they faced each other in the sky, "Why in the world are _you_ still around?! I thought you were running away!"

He smirked in a sadistic manner and called out in return, "I was waiting for you to fail, so then I could watch that worthless forest burn to the ground!" He ignored the roll of her eyes. "But how… Fitting… For you to have a Dragon-Type," he commented in slight nonchalance as he examined the Dragonite she rode upon.

"What did you expect?" The girl threw back impatiently. "I TOLD you I'm from Blackthorn City!"

As if that meant nothing to him, the dragon trainer shrugged. "But what do you plan to do? Fight me?" He added the last part in almost a scoffing manner, as if the prospect of her actually taking him on was a preposterous one.

"Duh! I'll make you pay for setting the forest on fire _and_ for trying to kill me!"

"You should've just ran while you had the chance, Otomé!" His tone was a delightedly cruel one, fore now he would have a second chance at disposing of this insistent pest. "You may've been able to hold up against me on the ground, but we're in the air now, which is where _I_ rule! And while you only have that one dragon, I have four others that can help me destroy you!"

Hissing, she shot back, "Not if I turn you two into ice cubes first! Kin! Blizzard!" With a roar, the Dragonite rightened itself so it looked as though it were standing on its back legs in the air, now beginning to beat its wings faster and more forcefully. Yelping slightly in shock at the abruptness of the attack, Otomé wrapped her arms around her beast's thick neck as best as she could and held on for dear life. Though she was seated in front—or rather now, on top—of Kin's wings, the pace at which it was moving them threatened to throw her off the Dratini Evolute's back. And if the girl slipped, she would surely plummet to her death.

The silver-haired boy, however, was definitely more concerned with the area's rapid and unnatural shift of weather. The inky heavens that had once been substantially clear of clouds were now filled with them and dark, foreboding ones at that. They quickly slid to cover the pale moon and stars as the winds began to pick up and howl like an insane Houndoom, all in a span of four or five seconds. And all the while the temperature of the air was dropping, plunging from a comfortable warmth to below freezing in less than a quarter of a minute. By the time a good sixty seconds had passed, the two trainers found themselves amidst a screaming, unforgiving Blizzard.

He would've shouted to her how much of a genius idea this had been, seeing as her own Dragonite would be doubly weak to the Ice-Type attack, but he knew that his voice would simply be lost in the shrieking winds that battered his beast and him and threatened to toss them around like two Caterpies in a Twister. Stupid girl! He hated the cold! Growling, he hung onto his Salamence more tightly, leaning closer forward in an attempt to retain some of his fleeting heat. They had to get out of this storm or they really would freeze to death.

Though they were on opposite sides of the fight, Otomé and her own beast were having much the same issues as their foes. Although Kin wasn't at as much risk of getting tossed about, both it and its mistress were still very much subjective to the cold so intense it burned and seared. And it did not help that as the flecks of snow pelted the girl's bare arms and melted due to her warmth, the water they became made holding on to her dragon more and more of a chore, as if it wasn't already difficult enough.

But the biggest danger of all was that the water trainer had much more skin exposed than the boy. So while he simply shivered on a level that was just below violent, she was already struggling to stay awake as their dragons did their best to endure the Blizzard and not lose their riders. Though when it felt its mistress's grip loosen significantly from around its neck, Kin knew that something was not right. Despite the Dragonite's penchant for apathetic disobedience, it still cared about the girl. Somewhat. So with the same power it had used to summon the Blizzard, the Dratini Evolute now forced it to die, the shrieking zephyrs beginning to quiet, the clouds beginning to part, and most importantly, the temperature beginning to rise.

The Dragonite, however, did not wait for its attack to fully dissipate before descending in circles and returning back through the hole now obvious in the canopy. The silver-haired boy, as well as his azure beast,—both slightly encrusted with ice—were immensely grateful for the letup of the storm. Any longer… Shaking to warm himself in a way that mimicked a seizure, the would-be murderer managed to catch a glimpse the golden dragon as it disappeared back into the Illex Forest. Dumb girl. What the hell was she thinking, using Blizzard in an aerial battle?! Was she out of her mind?! But before he could command his Salamence to use this apparent retreat to escape, it too had begun to descend, following its peer and squeezing back through the hole. The beast was freezing and in no condition to fly.

The boy had only been no more than ten seconds behind Kin, yet the Dragonite had already landed and pulled its mistress from its back, the girl now laid out by the single fire that had not extinguished by this point. He couldn't achieve a decent view of her due to the fact that he watery creatures were crowded around her out of concern, but he managed to discover that her lips were a blue that was only a few shades lighter than her hair. This only proved how dumb she had been.

Upon hearing the behemoth creature land behind them, the water trainer's Pokémon all turned around quickly to face the pair of foes. What the hell did he want now?! Come to finish his failed task while his prey was unable to fight back? But the boy returned their untrusting glares with an annoyed glower.

"Go burn in a desert, the lot of you," he hissed poisonously. "I'm only here because the air is still too cold for flight." As soon as the temperature had returned to its previous mild warmth, he'd be out of that forest faster than Fire-Type trying to outrun a rainstorm. Huffily, he then ignored the creatures of the deep as he slid down from his Salamence's back and recalled the poor, shivering beast back into its Pokéball. He then proceeded to locate another tree branch a suitable height up from the now burnt and still-smoking path and like an Aipom, scaled the tree to land squarely on the chosen branch. But unlike his previous perch, this one was much more illuminated and out in the open. If he tried hiding again, those damned beasts would just think he was up to something sly. And like he needed any more harassment from them.

But now, there was nothing else to do except wait.

* * *

When you had nothing in which to occupy your mind, time seemed to pass awfully slowly. For the umpteenth time in the two hour period they since had been waiting, the silver-haired teenager sighed in a slightly frustrated manner. Arms folded across his chest, he focused his dark eyes on his feet that where placed a ways down on the branch he sat on. He had a horrid sense of time, so he had no idea how long it had been now. But the chill in the air leftover from the Blizzard had been completely and utterly gone for a while. Surely he could leave now! But for some reasons unbeknownst to him, he could not manage to rouse himself from his place.

Once again only his free will was holding him back, yet he remained where he was, unmoving, with no idea why. Was some instinct keeping him grounded? He wasn't… _Concerned_ for that idiot girl's well being, was he…? Frowning, the boy shook his head. No, he was probably just being lazy; he was actually quite content on his perch. But he ceased his bored musings when a groan from a familiar voice reached his ears from down below.

"Oooowwww…" Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, Otomé turned her face towards the meager fire she had been placed beside.

"Quag!" Umi Nami cheered, immediately encircling her mistress's head with her flipper-like arms as best as she was able. "Quag! Quag! Quag!"

Sputtering slightly, the girl chuckled and attempted to pry herself out of the Quagsire's grasp. "Ah ha ha, glad you're so relieved, I guess, Umi. Just don't strangle me!" Around her, her five creatures grinned (well, except for Takumi. How could a Poliwrath grin?). Once the Wooper Evolute had released her, the female teenager then proceeded to ask, "How long have I been out?"

"Ssssiiirreeee!" Umi drew out in response. Whatever answer that had been seemed to stun the girl.

"_That_ long?" A look if despair crossed her tanned face. "Oh! Now watch! Clair's gonna smack me seven ways to Sunday for being so late! Man! First blondie and dumb Team Rocket, and now _this_!"

As boring as such a whining remark was, the mention of the world's largest and most feared crime syndicate, however, intrigued the dragon trainer very much. "What's your connection to Team Rocket?" He suddenly inquired in a serious tone from his tree branch, now interested. Blinking once or twice, Otomé looked as though she had no idea who had just spoken. After a second or two, it then registered with her that her would-be killer was _still_ there.

"Shouldn't you be long gone by now?" She countered dryly with lidded eyes. '_Stalker._'

"Just tell me," He shot back with a tinge of annoyance. '_Stupid girl_.'

Exhaling audibly through her nose, the Blackthornian closed her eyes once again and was silent. Why in the world did he want to know such information? Or better yet, why in the world should she tell him?

"I have no idea actually," She answered finally after a moment's pause. "I'm at Lake of Rage with my mother one day and then suddenly, bam! They come after us, and have been after me ever since." As if being apparently hunted by Team Rocket was miniscule, the girl shrugged and opened her eyes again.

Yet another mystery. Now why would the great Team Rocket be after such an unimpressive, unimportant—and not to mention dumb—girl like the one that lay below him? Frowning, the male teenager decided to put such a puzzle out of his mind for now. It probably didn't matter. "Yes, I'm still here," he remarked again suddenly, answering her, albeit rhetorical, question as he swung his legs over the branch to now sit sidesaddle on it. "The cold from your genius Blizzard made the air too cold for my dragons." With ease, he jumped down from his perch and once again landed on both feet almost perfectly. "But now it's gone, so I'm leaving."

From the ebony belt wrapped around his waist, the dragon trainer unclipped a minimized Pokéball and restored it to its original size. Without waiting for any sort of remarks from the peanut gallery, he pressed the white button on the center and forced the two-toned sphere to snap open and release the red light within. In mere moments, another dragon had appeared beside him.

It was smaller than the Salamence but still larger than its master, though not by much. It was almost entirely a soft green, with a long tail that sported dark green bands and ended in three red-edged diamonds that were positions in the fashion of a fan (its large wings were also this red-edged diamond shape). It had powerful-looking back legs, but its forelegs looked short and a tad scrawny. Its neck was nearly as long as its tail and two uneven antennas in dark green topped its head while its eyes were covered by what appeared to be small domes of translucent red.

Taking a second or two to stare at this new dragon, Otomé then suddenly grinned and remarked in a girlish voice, "Awww! It looks so cute!" This strange comment caused the boy and his dragon to look at one another as if she had spoken to them in some foreign language they couldn't comprehend.

"Did that cold freeze your brain?" The male teenager replied in an apprehensive tone. "How can a Flygon—or any dragon—be '_cute_'?" But the green reptile responded with a cheerful bray, obviously liking being complimented. This, however, caused the female teenager to croon again.

"Awww! He even sounds cute, too!"

The silver-haired boy simply rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to comment. But before he could even utter a sound, a third voice, deep and resonating, remarked with a calm smugness, "That shouldn't mean much, seeing as you find almost anything cute."

The boy saw the tall shadow first seeing as it melted from the surrounding trees behind the blue-haired girl and he _had_ been facing her. And judging by the look on the boy's face that whoever had spoken was behind her, Otomé spun herself around and hissed before scrambling back two or three feet from the figure that now loomed so menacingly over her.

Male. He was definitely male. His voice was too deep for even the most butch of females. Though the dying fire wasn't a fantastic help, the dragon trainer could still make out most of the features of this intruder, mostly thanks to his honed ability to see relatively well in the dark.

His hair was shaggy and short, and an extremely pale blonde. He was tall, taller than the boy himself, and wore nothing but black; decently-fitted jeans and a sweeping yet simple trench coat over a shirt that would have been unordinary had it not been for the giant, bold '**R**' blazed in a bright red on the center of the chest. Upon seeing that infamous logo, both the boy and his Flygon growled. Well speak of the devil…

"You!" Otomé, however, hissed through clenched teeth. "I thought you weren't going to follow me through the forest!" The blonde man simply shrugged with a frown.

"I changed my mind."

"So I take it that this one of the Rocket's you say has been stalking you?" The dragon trainer suddenly interjected as he eyed the man. He had to be at least six feet tall… The frown of said man deepened at this inquire and caused him to stare down to the girl a few feet away from his boots.

"Otomé! You went and told another man about us? How could you?!" Hissing in indignant aggravation, the water trainer jumped to her feet and was promptly dwarfed by the man due to their severely contrasting sizes. But with her massive Water-Types at her side, she would've seemed so tiny even without him to be measured against.

"Go jump off a cliff already! Yes, _he's_ the Rocket that's been bothering me the most!"

"'Bothering'?" The man echoed in a hurt tone that was painfully fake. "Otomé, my dear, you know I only want what's best for you…" But then a cruel smile suddenly twisted his lips and threateningly, he took a heavy step towards her.

Refusing to show her fear, the female teenager adopted a mask of bravery, but took two steps back when the Rocket approached her. "'Best for me'? Please! Trying to kill me is _not_ what's best for me!"

With a mock pout, the blonde sighed through his nose. "It sounds so harsh when you phrase it like that… Regardless, you know your choices, dear Dream. Come with me, or die." He stated the second option so calmly it was almost amusing. Though the silver-haired boy instead rolled his eyes.

"Like you could succeed where I failed?" He muttered under his breath. This remark won him the blonde's piercing gaze. "Well, what do we have here?" He remarked as though setting eyes on the boy for the first time since appearing. "Oh? A Flygon? Splendid! The Boss loves Dragon-Types."

"It'll be a cold day in hell before you get one of my dragons," he shot back in a challenging manner, his Flygon fluttering forward to position itself between the water trainer and the Rocket before lifting its head and exhaling a puff of blue fire. It hadn't been bidden to protect the girl, but perhaps it had taken a liking to her because of her compliments.

Either way, this new obstacle caused the blonde to sigh for a second time and cross his arms impatiently. "Dream, just come as you are told, without a fight, or I'll have to kill your guard Growlithe…" Before Otomé could retort, the boy instead replied.

"Hate to burst your bubble, blondie, but you're not getting her. Or killing her." Though his words seemed protective, his voice however was void of any emotion. And then as if to confirm his statement, the silver-haired teenager marched forward boldly, snatched one of the girl's wrists in a grip almost as tight as a vice, and began to tug her back to where he had been standing. "You… You're coming with me. Get those blasted Pokémon of yours. We're leaving." Like hell he'd let the scum that was Team Rocket get something they seemed to want.

Having not been expecting such a fierce tug, Otomé stumbled once or twice as she was practically dragged back. Her five Pokémon and the Flygon followed cautiously, their eyes fixated on the tall man to make sure he wouldn't try anything underhanded.

Despite how he was being watched so closely, the Rocket allowed his wall of unshatterable calmness to fall momentarily as he bared his teeth at the two retreating trainers in a silent growl. But upon clearing his throat, he once against returned to his unfazed calmness.

Reaching into the interior of his trench coat, he withdrew a strange, purple and white Pokéball with thick latches and an 'M' on the front in a violet shade. "Hey Otomé," he began in a sly tone as he unsealed the ball and made a grab for the white beam that promptly escaped. It took the light only a second or two to form and take the shape of a slender, lavender feline with large, pointed ears and a long, dual-tipped tail. "Look what I got…"

The dragon trainer tightened his grip on the girl's wrist in an attempt to tell her not to look. It was just a trick. He should know. But of course, she disobeyed and turned to see what that Rocket could possibly have in his possession. By Aruseus, how stupid was this girl?! But when he heard a worried gasp escape from her throat, he, too, became regrettably curious.

"Omi!" She cried in despair. The Espeon that the blonde presented did not look to be in very good condition. Held up by the scruff of its neck, its entire body was limp and unmoving, its fur matted and stained with dirt and what was probably blood. "What did you monsters do to her?! Give her back!"

The Rocket, however, simply chuckled at such a demand and swung the feline to and fro slightly, as if to taunt the female teenager. "If you want her so badly, why don't you come get her?"

Had it not been for her would-be murderer's iron grip around her wrist, she would've taken that bastard up on his challenge! Baring her own teeth in an almost feral way, Otomé glared death at the blonde. But the growls of her five Water-Types suddenly gave her an idea. Imploringly, she looked up at each of her creatures, refusing to look away until they made eye contact with her. Sure, _she_ was unable to rescue the Espeon… But _they_ weren't.

Once she was certain that her team got the gist of what she wanted them to do, the girl then set her hateful gaze back upon the Rocket.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He jeered. "Too scared?"

In an annoyed manner, she narrowed her eyes. But then without warning, shouted, "NOW!" Without much of a delay, her five beasts charged forward, Kin and Takumi coming from the left, Miho and Umi Nami coming from the right, and Ai, the Feraligatr, coming from dead center.

The water trainer chuckled almost sadistically as she watched her foe drop the psychic cat in favor of attempting to dodge the sudden barrage of MegaPunches, Tail Whips, and Headbutts. While her teammates kept the man busy, Ai dove for the Espeon, scooping her up with a surprising delicacy before whirling around and making a B-line straight back to its mistress.

Otomé had little time to snatch up her bag, take Omi from her Feraligatr, and then recall the reptile, as well as the rest of her team, back into their Pokéballs before the silver-haired boy slung her onto the back of his Flygon and then jumped on himself in front of her. Without prompting, the Mystic Pokémon launched itself into the air, zooming almost like a missile through the hole in the canopy his Salamence teammate had made hours earlier. The loud, colorful curses of the blonde Rocket were almost instantly lost to the melodious humming the Flygon's beating wings produced.

Though the abruptness of such a takeoff had nearly thrown the blue-haired girl off of the back of the desert spirit. The only reason she was still behind the dragon trainer was solely because once she had felt herself begin to slide off, she had shut her eyes tightly and fearfully twined her arms around his torso, trying to stay steadfast by gripping the hide of the Flygon with her legs as well.

"Hey…" She could barely hear the hail due to the wind rushing around her. Although she wasn't paying much attention anyway. Otomé only realized she was being spoken to when she felt the body she had her arms so strongly around moved and twisted around.

"Hey…" Cautiously, she cracked open her eyes, then slowly opened them (though was soon squinting slightly due to the wind) and looked up only to meet the slightly annoyed gaze of the silver-haired teenager.

"Would you mind letting _go_ of me?"

Suddenly, the girl became embarrassingly aware of how tightly she was latched onto her would-be murderer. Almost instantaneously she withdrew her arms and instead placed them around the Espeon to cradle the obviously injured creature. "Ah… S-Sorry! I almost fell off, so it was kinda o-out of reflex…"

"Well, it doesn't matter now," He dismissed. "He's flying pretty steady now, so you don't have to worry about falling off… What? Did you expect that Rocket to follow us?" He made sure to raise his voice slightly so the female teenager would be able to hear his words before they were whisked away by the wind.

Still abashed, she didn't dare meet his gaze, trying hard to quell the fire that was rising in her cheeks. "Ah… Yeah," She admitted after a moment of thought. "He always has before… Every time I would try to escape on Kin… He has a Pidgeot."

Upon hearing this information, the boy smirked smugly and once again turned his back to the water trainer. "Like a Pidgeot could out fly a Flygon? Especially _this_ one?" He inquired with a subtle pride. Hoenn's green dragons were known for their speed, sure, but his seemed to be just a little bit more fast than the rest, which was _completely_ an unbiased judgment. Really!

"So even if that clown had wanted to catch up, he wouldn't be able to!" The male teenager concluded, still with that masked pride. Then again, he half-turned so he could face his would-be victim in order to add, "And… Jet… My name is Jet."


	3. In the Shadows of the City

The flight—to Blackthorn, as she discovered early into it—was rather uneventful. The two trainers spent a grand majority of the trip in silence, with Otomé sulking and Jet brooding.

"_You seem good, so I'll forgive you for trying to kill me!" She had announced once the Illex Forest had vanished from the horizon behind them._

"_Save your breath," He had retorted in an unfriendly manner. "I didn't save you because I wanted to be good. Like hell I was going to let Team Rocket have their way."_

_She frowned. "So… You only saved me to spite them?"_

"_Exactly. Glad you understand."_

For the remainder of the journey, the girl tried to deny to herself that she felt hurt. Why should she care what that idiot's reasons were? She had been rescued from a potentially disastrous situation and that's all that mattered. The boy'll probably _finally_ leave her alone once they reached their destination, so why waste time feeling hurt?

Still. He could've at least been nicer in informing her of his reasons, the bastard.

The sun was already high in the morning sky when the Flygon finally began to descend in a fluttering manner, the city of dragons already largely in sight. The Trapinch Evolute took care to land on the very outskirts of the city, his master not particularly wanting to attract the attentions of the townspeople. Hoennian Pokémon were extraordinarily rare in Johto.

Without a word, the water trainer slid gracefully off the green dragon's flank, but stumbled slightly as she landed, with Omi, who had fallen asleep by now, still cradled in her arms. Her counterpart followed suit as she put a few feets' distance between her and the reptile, and the would-be murderer and would-be victim were suddenly facing one another again.

For a moment or so, the duo simply stared at one another, both their expressions unreadable. It was like they were attempting to gauge one another on some unknown aspect while trying not to let the other know they were doing so. But then out of no where, Otomé suddenly bowed, albeit stiffly.

"I thank you for rescuing me. If you need a place to stay, the Pokémon Center is just a bit south of the Gym, which itself is the largest and closest building to the Dragon's Den." As far as she knew, he had not slept once this past night, and would now be tired. Or at the very least, his dragon would be.

"_Otomé… Have you no manners?"_ The Espeon in her arms chided weakly in a groggy voice. The girl was slightly surprised to be addressed by the feline, but was inwardly relieved that at least she was fit enough to speak.

"I'll pass," Jet replied dully, paying no heed to the psychic cat. Whether or not he heard her was debatable. "I'm better off on my own."

"_Then why not stay with us?"_ The Eeveelution suddenly suggested. _"It sounds hypocritical, but my late mistress's home in quite large and with just Otomé and I as its occupants, you'd pretty much be 'on your own'…"_

The boy stared at the feline with a slight frown. And when it seemed as though he would not speak, he opened his mouth and stated. "… It talked."

"_Really now?"_ Omi replied in a slightly impatient tone. _"It might be due to the fact that I am a high-level Psychic-Type…"_

"And it's already annoying," The dragon trainer concluded to no one, narrowing his dark eyes at the creature. "Look, her and I aren't friends. I didn't help her nor take her here because I cared. So why would I take up such an offer? I like it better out here anywhere." As if to emphasize this point, he crossed his arms and turned his back to them, fixing his glare ahead of him at nothing.

This action made the blue-haired girl want to scream. How rude! Stubborn boy! She was just trying to be nice but he simply throws it back in her face! Well fine! "Then I bid you farewell," She responded in a tightly controlled voice, trying to keep aggravation at such a harsh rejection from bleeding through into her voice. Smartly, she spun around on a heel and marched off, muttering darkly to herself once she was certain the duo were out of earshot.

"Arg! Idiot! So frustrating!" Otomé ranted as she stomped down familiar paths through the large city, her feet carrying her to her destination as though they possessed minds of their own. She could only remember the past six or seven years she had spent in Blackthorn, but that was still plenty of time to have her usual routes memorized by heart now.

"_I'm surprised you're even wasting energy fuming about someone like him,"_ Omi pointed out from the girl's embrace. _"Who was he anyway?"_

"He said that his name was Jet."

"_Just 'Jet'?"  
_

The teenager nodded. "Just that. No last name, but I don't think he's from Johto, 'cause he has strange Pokémon I've never seen before." Briefly, she wondered what other Pokémon he had in his possession. Above Illex Forest, he had boast that he owned 'four other dragons', in addition to his Salamence. '_Guess that's three others, 'cause that green dragon was probably one of the ones he was talking about,_' She mused.

"_I'd propose that he could very well be from Hoenn since he has a Flygon, but you have a Milotic and you're not,"_ The lavender feline remarked with her own brand of a frown. _"But it doesn't matter anymore. We probably won't see him again."_

Though still huffy at Jet's rudeness, Otomé was certain she felt her anger abate slightly at Omi's words. She told herself that it was because never running across the dragon trainer ever again was a _good_ thing.

"Yeah… First thing's first, I've got to go find Clair." The girl tried to suppress a groan.

With her curiosity perked by her charge's obvious unwillingness in wanting to locate the Rising Gymleader, the Espeon tilted her head as she looked up to the human. _"Why's that?"_ Sighing, the water trainer explained.

"I was back in Olivine two days ago when I got a call from her, telling me I had two days to get back here or else she'd feed me to the dragons. Today's the third day and you know how strict Clair is…"

In a way that was half knowingly and half out of pity, the Sun Pokémon nodded after being filled in on the teenager's plight. _"But you know there's nothing you can do but find her and then grit you teeth while she lashes out at you for being late."_

"I know, I know," Otomé admitted glumly. She had slightly hoped that the Espeon would've said something different, something more encouraging.

"_But if you knew that you have two days to get from one end of Johto to the other, why on Aruseus' green earth did you go the long way, through Illex Forest?"_ If the girl had been serious about escaping the Rising Gymleader's wrath, why didn't she go through Ecruteak City and Mahogany Town, instead?

Keeping her eyes fixed ahead—partly to make sure she didn't run into anyone on the sidewalk she traveled upon—the girl sighed. "If I could've taken the shorter way, I would've. But I didn't even make it to Mount Mortar before Nightmare showed up." She felt Omi's fur bristle slightly at the name.

"_So he still continued to harass you, did he?"_

She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. So I backtracked to Ecruteak again and tried to take the long way around. But he _still_ followed me!"

"_The blonde was always dedicated to his pursuits,"_ The Eeveelution remarked dryly.

"He even found me in the Illex Forest, but Jet helped us escape…" Sighing again, the water trainer now instinctively came to a halt in just outside the fenced-in yard of a large, powdery blue house with white trim. It was three stories tall and significantly wide, situated towards the sparsely populated section of Blackthorn near the entrance to the Ice Path. But the grass of the yard was wild and spotted with weeds, the enclosing fencing looking as though it had seen better days, which it probably had.

With Otomé not only now the sole caretaker of the home, but also gone most of the time as she wandered through Johto, her childhood home could more or less be considered abandoned. She was just grateful that no one seemed to want to break into it while she was away, for which she couldn't thank Suicune enough.

Too lazy to fiddle around with the lock, the teenager simply hopped over the fence instead—it barely came up to her waist anyway—and wearily strolled up the overgrown pathway leading to the raised porch and the front door.

* * *

Jet was unmoving from his brooding position until he was certain that that stupid girl and her annoying Espeon were well away from him. Turning back around to confirm this, he was relieved to see that only his Flygon remained. Good! Good riddance! But he didn't like that look his beast was giving him. 

"What?" He half-growled. To anyone else, the dragon looked emotionless, like it was only staring at its master to pass the time while it waited to be issued a new set of orders. But the boy could tell… He had been around his reptiles long enough to know their otherwise minute expressions.

"Don't look at me like that. You know it's true. And you only liked her because she said you were cute. You pansy."

Snorting, the Flygon wagged his head from side to side in an annoyed manner before crouching down and curling up on the slightly rocky ground like a cat, resting his head on the other side of him so his streamlined body hid his master from view.

"Oh, don't give me that, you overgrown lizard!" Jet hissed before petulantly taking a seat on the ground beside his Flygon, with his back to the creature and his arms still crossed. Dumb dragon. Otomé's idiocy must've rubbed off on him, blasted girl!

But the boy mentally reprimanded himself for allowing the water trainer into his thoughts. She was gone for good and he'd never see her again, so it would be in his best interests to forget about her and hope she wouldn't rat him out to the authorities for almost trying to kill her.

'_I doubt she would,_' He assured himself confidently, but was unable to support the claim with actual proof. She looked pretty miffed when she had taken her leave, so who's to say she hadn't gone straight to the police to extract a fitting revenge on him? Dumb girl, so unreliable!

After a moment or two, Jet realized that his attempt to push the blue-haired teenager from his mind only brought about even more thoughts of her, and in response, growled. Oh well. No use fighting it. He'd forget about her soon enough. Hopefully.

Time was slow in passing. Or perhaps it just seemed that way due to his horrible sense of it? Regardless, all the silver-haired boy knew was that it had been awhile before he decided to speak again.

"What should we do tomorrow?" He mused to himself, though aloud in case his Flygon had any suggestions. After a few moments of silence that made it obviously that the green creature would not respond, he continued. "Well, leaving, first thing. But then what? Back to that forest?" Illex or whatever it was called. But hanging around in the branches, waiting for unsuspecting victims was boring.

Frowning at his inability to come up with a schedule for the next day, the teenager instead immersed himself in pushing around some small rocks with one of his feet, the dust from the mountain dirt only making his worn sneakers look even worse. Quickly losing interest however, he suddenly stood and nudged his Flygon with the same foot.

"C'mon. Get up, you lug. Let's go look around the city."

Raising his head from its resting position to give his master a suspicious look, the Trapinch Evolute crooned in a concerned tone.

"Relax. We'll be fine," The boy dismissed carelessly. "Nobody knows who I am here. It's not like back home."

With skepticism, the Flygon accepted this answer.

* * *

It was good to see that Otomé had gotten over her sulking by now. After returning home, she then had grudgingly gone out to seek Clair and Omi had been proud of the girl when she silently took the verbal slap the Gymleader gave her after finally locating the woman. Though, the cat had to admit that maybe Clair had been just a tad too harsh on the poor girl. 

Once the Rising Gymleader had finish berating the water trainer, she then informed her of the reason behind the abrupt summons.

"As you _should_ know, the Dragon Festival is in three days," Clair began loftily. "But unfortunately, this year's singer suddenly pulled out for some dumb reason."

"What was her reason?" The teenager inquired, her interest bleeding through the mask of brooding gloom she had been trying to maintain.

"Her boyfriend had proposed to her," She replied frankly.

The girl had been at a loss of how to respond to that, slightly unbelieving that Clair could be so callous, but at the same time knowing that the older woman knew nothing _but_ how to be callous. And loud.

"So… Then… Why me?" The female dragon trainer didn't need to explain to her what her role in the scheme of things would be; the girl had already figured it out.

"Do you know how hard it is to get a good, professional singer at such short notice? Your mother always bragged about how nice of a voice you had, so I decided to see if she was really telling the truth or not."

Once Otomé had been completely filled in of her new job, she was dismissed and as expected, stalked out of the large Gym and headed straight for home with only a manila folder full of songs to compensate for her troubles. Upon returning to the blue house, she then immediately locked herself in her room on the third floor to brood and sulk and didn't emerge until a few hours later, in the middle of the afternoon. And only once she had cleared her mind did the girl finally realize that she had no idea how to read the sheet music she had been given.

"Just my luck," The teenager muttered to herself as she hurried down one of the many sidewalks that lined the downtown area. "Why couldn't she have just given me CDs or something?" Just because she could sing decently didn't mean she also knew how to read all those strange music notes!

Preoccupied with cursing Clair for giving her something she couldn't understand, Otomé stopped paying attention to where she was going on the less-than-crowded sidewalk and was only snapped from her seething thoughts when she felt herself walk directly into something soft and warm traveling in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin'!"

By now, the girl was well acquainted with the voice that barked at her and was hard pressed to resist disdainfully groaning when she glanced upwards to confirm her suspicions. She had run into the silver-haired boy. Literally.

Taking a few steps back, she stared up at him with a frown and half-closed eyes. "Why in Suicune's name are **you**_still_ here? Don't you have someone _else_ to bother?"

"'Bother'?! I could say the same thing!" Jet was not happy. He figured that it would've been worthwhile to take a look around the mountain city. After all, it was dedicated to the type of Pokémon he trained. But foolishly, he had not expected it to be full of so many people. And then to add insult to injury, running into that stupid girl again? The Gods must really not like him!

"Plus, it's a free country. I can do whatever the hell I want!" He added.

Rolling her eyes—they were a bright cyan, he noticed now—she then crossed her arms and threw back, "Oh, go jump off a cliff! There are plenty just south of the city, in case you didn't know."

"I'd rather go jump off a cliff than run into _you_ again!"

Unable to think of a comeback to such an insult, the Blackthorn native had to settle for glaring daggers at the boy before pushing past him in a huffy manner and once again stomping off. But lacking the wisdom to know when to let go, Jet turned and followed the girl, continuing to let her know just how he felt.

"As if I wanted to come across _you_ again _anyway_. You should be thankful I even took you here and not pushed you off the back of Flygon while we were flying!"

Clenching her teeth, she tried to resist retorting, but failed spectacularly. "And you should be lucky I haven't turned you into the police yet!" Unbeknownst to her as she had her back to him, this subtle threat froze the dragon trainer in his tracks.

"… You wouldn't _dare_…" He hissed to her retreating back.

"Oh, don't put it past me!" The girl challenged angrily. But as she glanced over her shoulder, he had already caught back up with her and in a single, swift dive, grabbed one of her wrists and yanked her around to face him, his grip tighter than it had been back in the Illex Forest, and more painful as he took care to dig his nails into her soft flesh.

"Let's get one thing straight," Jet snarled in a deadly soft voice as he returned her previous glare. "You may have been able to protect yourself against Team Rocket and that blonde, but there's _nothing_ in this world that can protect you from _**me!**_"

The people that flowed around them paid little attention to the scene. Not only was it none of their business, but spats between lovers, especially ones as young as they, were common. And surely the boy would not be idiotic enough to try and harm his girlfriend in broad daylight…

However, the people trying to travel downtown were quickly annoyed when, with a flash of red light from his belt, another golden dragon was suddenly looming behind the silver-haired teenager, its girth taking up most of the space on the sidewalk.

"_Don't_," It warned as it reached out a paw to gently grip its master's shoulder. "_Not here… You shouldn't. No good will come of it_."

But Jet ignored his dragon's advisement in favor of stalking darkly forward and disappearing into a narrow, shadowed alleyway between two buildings, all the while dragging the struggling water trainer with him.

Rolling its chocolate brown eyes, the Dragonite followed and dutifully stood in front of the meager entrance, blocking it, and the two trainers, from sight.

* * *

**A/N:** Just a little disclaimer. Otomé and Jet aren't dating. But the people downtown, who don't know them one bit, assumed that they were. Everyone seems to do that… 


	4. Nothing To Say

The Dragonite did not agree with her master's insanity. She didn't like how he would kill solely for the sake of doing so, for the sake of seeing his sword stained with blood. But there was nothing she, nor the rest of his dragons, could do to stop him, so they all had learned to just accept his homicidal urges, instead focusing their energies on keeping him out of the grasp of the authorities. It would not be well if the boy was caught.

But such depressing loyalty did Otomé no help as Jet more or less threw her against one of the rough brick walls that made up the alleyway and practically pinned her to it. But his only restraint against her was the switchblade he now held to her throat (not that the hand he had placed on the wall next to her head wouldn't deter her from trying to escape, either). He would've preferred to use his sword, but the space around them was much too narrow to allow such a weapon to be properly wielded. This would have to do.

The silence that followed was heavy and tense, their gazes locked in an unblinking manner. His eyes, she noticed now, were a dark blue, like the ocean… Chiding herself for becoming momentarily distracted, the girl glared up at the dragon trainer, who was at least a full head taller than her.

"Let go of me! Get away from me!"

But the male teenager didn't listen. If he actually heard her, his only indication was the tightening of his grip on the handle of his switchblade. Just like back in the Illex Forest, nothing else mattered; it was just the two of them again and all he cared about were the screams he would soon hear from the water trainer. It never occurred to the boy, however, that such shrieking would surely give him away. He had never been in possession of much common sense.

"Any last words?" Jet hissed back at his prey, pressing the small blade harder against her throat. Just one flick of his hand… One fluid slash…

"Y-Yeah," Otomé replied bravely, trying her hardest to keep her fear out of her voice and eyes. "Get away from me!" At that instant, she had seized the hand that held the weapon, her own hands wrapping around his wrist and tugged hard to get the blade away from her skin before suddenly lunging forward in a move that was a cross between a headbutt and a tackle.

The silver-haired dragon trainer yelped slightly as he was somewhat slammed against the opposite wall, the surprise assault having caught him off-guard. Some nerve that stupid girl had! But said girl was already squeezing past his Dragonite before he could pull her back into the shadows.

Growling, he stowed his switchblade away in one of the pockets of his baggy pants and hurriedly pushed past the golden dragon, half leaping back out onto the sidewalk just in time to watch her dash around a corner and out of sight. Taking a few angry steps forward, his determination to finish the job he had started in Illex Forest began, however, to fade.

For a third time, only his will held him back, yet Jet could not muster up the resolve to chase after the water trainer. It was like something was unconsciously bidding him to leave her alone… Balling his hands into fists at his side, he gave a vicious, yet frustrated snarl before whirling around and storming down the sidewalk in the opposite direction Otomé had fled, once again completely ignoring his Dragonite.

In a slightly hurt manner, the golden beast hung her head, though she should've known better. Her master was always cold and somewhat selfish when he was angered. But that poor girl… How brave of her to stand up to someone like him! Idly watching her trainer disappear into a crowd of people, the Dratini Evolute then turned and headed in the opposite direction, down the same way the blue-haired girl had gone.

The Dragonite would find the would-be victim and apologize, on the boy's behalf.

* * *

The Blackthorn native didn't stop running until she was on the other side of the large downtown area. Early on in her escape did she notice that her would-be murderer had not come after her, for some reason, but just to be safe she kept up her pace for a little longer. For all she knew, he could've followed her in the shadows and was now waiting until she was lulled into a false sense of security before moving in for the kill.

Of course, right then it would've been easy to strike. Off to the side, out of other peoples' ways, Otomé was almost doubled over, her hands set against her knees as she panted heavily and gasped for air. She hadn't done any running like that in a while. Luckily, it only took the girl a few minutes to catch her breath.

Straightening once her breathing had mostly returned to its normal pattern, she then glanced around to check where she had run off to. '_Oh, still downtown. Well, that's good, I guess. But I ran past the shop…_' Frowning, the blue-haired trainer turned and began to retrace her footsteps. She hadn't meant to go so far.

By Suicune's grace, it had only taken a few minutes for her to relocate her original destination: a small storefront crammed between two larger stores, the weathered sign hanging from a pole and two chains above the door reading 'MR. D'S MUSIC' in faded and slightly peeling orange paint. Regrettably, the teenager was unable to read sheet music, so perhaps the cramped music store had her songs on CD instead?

A tiny bell tinkled as Otomé opened the door and stepped inside, the scents of dust and old leather filling her nose. As long as she had lived in Blackthorn City, she had only ever been to the shop once or twice. She preferred to listen to the radio (mainly for Buena's Password) than to CDs or cassettes or whatever.

The interior of the shop, though stuffed with miscellaneous objects, was rather brightly-lit, a handful of people (mainly teenagers around her age) already sorting through the collections of music that were on display on the three long-tables towards the back.

"Welcome," A less-than-enthused clerk greeted from the register to her right. He looked a few years older than Jet. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Ah, yeah, actually," The water trainer replied and stepped closer, withdrawing—with some difficulty—from one of her shorts' pockets a sheet of paper that had been folded over many times. "I'm looking for these songs. I don't need their whole CDs or anything, 'cause I just need to hear them a few times. I need to learn them, but I can't read sheet music, so this is the next best thing…"

She could've sworn that the clerk gave her a dirty look as she passed to him the rather lengthy list.

* * *

Just like the neighborhood in which Otomé called home, the area of Blackthorn City closest to Route Forty-Five was also sparsely populated. This was an expanse of the city where the land was too flat to be considered mountainous, but still too rocky to allow for much settlement. Still though, a few buildings were stationed here and there while one or two were clustered together as if to keep each other company. 

Perhaps it was a good thing, though, that the very south most end of the draconic city was nearly deserted. Almost no one was around to investigate the origins of a fit of snarls and growls coming from behind one of the buildings, or the reason behind why it also sounded as though something metallic and heavy was being thrown around.

Yes, it was a lucky break for Jet that either no one was around or brave enough to be drawn to the ruckus he was making as he took his anger out on an old, beaten trashcan, savagely kicking the thing hither and thither. He was at a loss for an explanation as to why he just couldn't bring himself to kill that dumb girl and that confusion pissed him off.

What was wrong with him?! He was cold-blooded! Merciless! Feared and hated in all of Hoenn! And yet here he was in Johto, unable to take the life of a simple teenaged girl. Sure, she was pretty, but like that mattered? He had killed pretty girls before! So why was now any different?

Heavily, he finally leaned back against one of the stone walls of the building, suddenly a bit weary from his expansion of rage and energy. Really, the Gods must hate him. Was this Aruseus' way of punishing him for his sins? To make him mysteriously unable to kill a mere girl like Otomé? Crossing his arms, the dragon trainer exhaled sharply through his nose and glowered at the golden sky above. It was dusk now, the golden hue the same shade as his Dragonite's scales…

It took a long pause before he suddenly realized that, while his Dragonite had released herself from her ball, he had not recalled the beast before storming off. Great. Just his luck. Now he had to search the city for his dragon, too? Sighing audibly in a frustrated manner, Jet was unmoving for a few moments longer before finally pushing himself off of the wall and starting off in the direction of downtown.

* * *

No, the clerk had not been too happy to receive such a long list of songs to be found. Otomé silently sympathized for him as she watched the young man grudgingly move out from behind the register and make his way towards the back where the music was, now muttering darkly under his breath. She took care to smile apologetically every time he looked back to make sure she was still there. 

But she still had a predicament she needed to find a way out of, so he'd just have to endure it.

It was a good twenty minutes before he came back with a stack of CDs, some covered in dust, some looking brand new. He had only managed to locate a handful of the songs on the list. Unfortunately, the girl also had to buy each and every CD before she could listen to them and only agreed to such due to the fact that she could just resell them back to the shop after the festival was over.

She made a mental note to do that when a different clerk was working, lest this one give her less than what the CDs were worth as some sort of revenge for making him work.

The walk back home had been rather uneventful as well. The boy was still missing and his Dragonite was no where in sight. Perhaps they had _finally_ left the city? She could only hope as she stiffly and cautiously passed the alleyway she had been pulled into earlier, half expecting Jet to jump out and drag her back into the ever-growing darkness.

As the powder blue house crawled into her sights, Otomé was surprised to see Ai standing in the front yard, what looked to be _conversing_ with a Dragonite that stood on the other side of the fence. Was it Kin the Feraligatr was talking to? As she drew closer and got a better look at the creature, she became certain that it was not her own dragon. Kin had teal-colored eyes, like her wingsails. This one had brown eyes.

"_Ah, Otomé!_" Ai called with a toothy grin once her mistress was within earshot. "_We have a visitor. She says she's come to apologize…_"

Warily, the girl came to a halt a foot or two away from the tall Dratini Evolute, the bag of CDs she held at her side swinging lightly as a result. "Apologize?" The water trainer asked dumbly, hoping that if she played clueless it'd turn out that the Dragonite was Clair's, coming to apologize for her mistress's brash behavior earlier in the day.

Ai nodded. "_She says she's sorry for what her master tried to do and hopes that you are alright and do not bare any hard feelings against him…_" The tone in which the Totodile Evolute used as she trailed off alerted Otomé to the prospect that later on, the creature would be interrogating her over what exactly happened while she was out.

"Ah, well…"

Pursing her lips together, the teenager tried to hide her disappointment at discovering who the Dragonite's owner _really_ was, while also wracking her brain for a suitable answer. How was she to reassure the dragon that she would not hate that vicious boy, or not sell him out to the police? He deserved it!

She spared having to answer, though, when that all-too-familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind her.

"There you are. Figures you'd be _here_…"

Jumping a few inches forward and dropping the bag of CDs out of shock, Otomé spun around to come face-to-face with her would-be murderer. Again. That blue Salamence of his stood behind him though did not look nearly as fearsome as it had back in the Illex Forest.

"What in Suicune's name do you want?!"

"Oh, put a sock in it," He retorted coldly with a glare. "I was talking to my Dragonite, not you."

"_Yeah, you better not have hurt her or anything,_" The Salamence added as he eyed the Feraligatr warily.

"Why is it here anyway? Sent it to keep tabs on me?"

"_Please. She came here of her own free will,_" Ai threw back at the Bagon Evolute in a slightly insulted tone. "_In fact, we were just discussing how nice it would be to stay for the Dragon Festival…_"

"Oh please. You wish! I have no idea!"

The blue dragon glared at his teammate when she looked as though she was about to agree with the Water-Type.

And even in the short amount of time it took for such a tiny exchange between their Pokémon to happen, the two trainers had already begun to argue, just like they had done downtown less than an hour ago. This time, though, Otomé made sure to not threaten to turn Jet into the authorities. She knew better now.

"You must be a horrible trainer to let your Pokémon run off!" She sneered, snatching the bag of CDs back up from where she had dropped it.

"And you must be a dumb one to go out without _yours!_" He shot back, referencing their previous incident. If she had had her Pokémon, she wouldn't've had to rely on chance luck to allow her to escape.

For the umpteenth time, the water trainer was at a loss for what to come back with. It wasn't _her_ fault she hadn't foreseen almost getting murdered (for a second time)! Growling, she turned away from the male teenager without a word and once again hopped over her fence, foregoing the front door and instead stomping off down the side of the house and disappearing around the back.

Still lacking the knowledge to know when to quit, Jet abruptly recalled his Dragonite back into her Pokéball and quickly followed after the girl, leaving his Salamence and her Feraligatr alone to stare untrustingly at one another.

"_If he tries anything, I'm going to Ice Punch him again,_" She warned.

"_And if you do that, I'll tear you into pieces,_" He answered.

* * *

The silver-haired boy was slightly surprised to find how huge the backyard really was. It was only a little wider across than the house, but it extended back at _least_ a hundred feet, cut off only by the steep mountain wall—undoubtedly part of the Ice Path—that suddenly rose up from the meager grasses. There was even space enough for a luxurious-looking pond that was probably half the size of an Olympic swimming pool and most likely just as deep.

Of course, the pond was where he spotted Otomé, fore that's where the rest of her team had been gathered; Kin, Umi Nami, and Takumi all lounging on the banks of pond while Miho and a strange, blue fish-type Pokémon, with a splotch of yellow across its eyes and snout and an antenna with a large, yellow sphere at the end curling up from the top of its head, rested idly within the waters.

"Oh? What? Once again unable to think up a good comeback?"

She had unaware that he had followed her until she heard his haughty remark. Suppressing a look that clearly said, 'Why me?', the water trainer turned around with a sigh and scowled.

"Do I have to take out a restraining order against you?!"

Jet dismissed this threat with a wave of his hand. "Like you would?" And even if she did, like he'd observe it? He'd ignore it just to spite her!

"Leave me alone! Go back to the Illex Forest or where ever you came from!" She swept a hand in the direction from which they had flown into the city that morning. "I don't have time to deal with you and your homicidal tendencies!"

"Oh? And why's that?" Right after he finished speaking did the boy realized that he had forgotten to sneer and thus made his inquire seem slightly caring, as if he actually wanted her company.

"The Dragon Festival's in three days and Clair's recruited me as replacement singer. So now I've got two days to completely memorize some songs I've never even heard. And to make matters worse, Clair gave me sheet music! Only, I can't read sheet music!

Why was she telling the dragon trainer of her sticky situation? What did either one of them care? Watch, he'd only probably laugh at her misfortune now! Frustrating, arrogant, headstrong boy! Why couldn't he just get lost already?!

"Then you better go start practicing," Jet remarked after a moment's pause. He tried to sound mocking and condescending, but failed somewhat, much to his surprise. But he managed to maintain his insolent smirk and silently watched as Otomé hissed at him before spinning around, stomping up the back porch, and disappearing into her home with an angry slam of the back door.

Her team had watched their mistress go as well, and once she was out of sight, they turned their gazes onto the cause of such anger. As if he was wholly innocent of the unspoken crimes their eyes accused him of, the dragon trainer simply shrugged with a frown and glanced about. Spotting a tree across from the pond on the other side of the yard, he strolled over to it and swiftly climbed up it, placing himself upon the first wide, sturdy branch he came across.

"What?" The boy inquired in a half challenging manner as he looked down at Otomé's Pokémon. "It's almost fully night. And she _did_ invite me to stay here."

For once, he was telling the truth. So without waiting for any sort of reply, he turned his head away from them and closed his dark eyes, crossing his arms and allowing the sounds of the approaching night to eventually soothe him to sleep.

Salamence would be fine.


	5. A Hymn Before Battle

"… _I know that if we quarrel with words, it will vanish,_

_And we'll move on, knowing of our dreams_

_And spoken goals._

_The defeats in the evening rain will make me better,_

_Even if my body does not yet appear strong…_"

Such a soothing voice, so light and clear; like a gentle summer breeze. But he wasn't sure to whom it belonged. He had never heard such a peaceful melody before, and was puzzled as to why anyone would want to sing to him to begin with. He was just a lowly criminal who garnered hateful looks where ever he went.

"… _Good-bye isn't a sad event because,_

_As I walk away, you'll be waving your hands,_

_Smiling._

_I extend my heart as I embrace the sky,_

_Trusting my confirmed desires…_"

But this light that was shining into his eyes was annoying him. All he wanted to do was relax and enjoy such a pretty song, but the light was preventing the former. Who was the one dumb enough to shine a light into his eyes, anyway?

"… _I have a map of the future here!_

_Onward! Onward!_

_Cross the seven colors of the rainbow with me._

_Ready? Go! I'm ready!_

_I'm tightly grabbing your hand and taking you along…_"

With a light growl, Jet cracked open his eyes, squinting slightly as the light that had awoken him grew more intense and bright. He was… Up in a tree? In… A backyard of sorts? A backyard with a really big pond… It took the boy a moment to get his barings and remember where he was and what had happened.

That's right. He had gone to look for his Dragonite and found her at the home of that stupid girl, who had two days to learn 'songs she had never heard of' or else that Clair woman or whoever was going to feed her to the dragons. And after the girl stormed inside, he had settled in on the tree branch he now found himself on and had promptly fallen asleep.

Upon seeing the backyard deserted, though, the dragon trainer couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. No one was singing to him after all; He was still alone.

"… _I want to be chasing such a feeling of freedom…_

_Running towards the galaxy like a dazzling star!_

_My heart's response changes as I aim for the light._

_There will be no time for gloom, as that would repeat the past…_"

So then who was singing? Surely that dumb girl did not possess such a pretty voice. But it would be fitting… Shaking his head to clear his mind of such thoughts, the boy slid off his branch and once again expertly landed, straightening before glancing up at the three story house before him. Quickly, he noticed that the back door was wide open, with no sign of life anywhere.

"If only more people left their doors open," He muttered to himself with a slight frown as he cautiously made his way up the back porch. "Would certainly make stealing a whole hell of a lot easier…"

Standing before the open door, he stared at it for a moment or two, as if waiting for something to jump out at him. Then gingerly, the teenager leaned forward and stuck his head through the frame and surveyed the interior. The room was rather wide and long, a few plush armchairs clustered together around a three-seat leather couch in one corner.

The rest of the walls were lined with tall bookshelves constructed of some dark wood that was almost black, and were packed with all sorts of books from large, thick ones to small and thin ones. But everything was covered in a gracious layer of dust, as though it all had been neglected for years.

Wrinkling his nose, Jet exhaled strongly but was satisfied about finding no one. Hopefully it'd remain that way as he stepped silently inside, a few dust particles whirling around his worn shoes. Though thieving would have to come second. For now, he was curious to discover the mysterious singer.

"… _Onward! Onward!_

_Cross the seven colors of the rainbow with me._

_Ready? Go! Even farther!_

_Go through the clouds to the sky!_"

He could hear the soft hum of music now as the silver-haired boy moved deeper into the large home. But before he could even locate the stairs to the next floor, the voice he had been using as a guide died away, leaving nothing behind but utter silence. Instinctively, he froze in his tracks, poised and ready to bolt. He knew all too well from his many years as a thief that when sound suddenly stopped, you were about to be discovered.

But much to his surprise, as the seconds dragged on, there was no sound of approaching footsteps, coming to investigate. There was nothing, so providently he crept forward again, this time taking care to remain as quiet as possible. Last thing he needed was that dumb girl accusing him of trying to rob her, too.

After only a few minutes, the teenager finally found the stairs, towards what was probably the front of the house. Like a ghost, he moved up them, taking it one slow step at a time, just in case the fixture decided to betray his presence with a loud, drawn-out '_creek_'. By the time he got to the top and onto the second floor, to his relief the voice began to sing again.

"_I felt the wind, my breath together_

_With the earth at the moment I jumped._

_A voice echoed in my heart, 'You'll be alright!'_

_When I turn around, everyone is smiling._

_I want to be chasing such a feeling of freedom,_

_As I raise my hands up towards the blazing sun._

_I looked back at yesterday and remembered._

_Alas, there were tears, but they don't trouble me…_"

"Gods, how big is this damned house?" Jet cursed, having investigated a good half of the rooms on the second story by now and was still clueless. Did he really have to search the house from top to bottom? Well, screw that. He'd just take the easy way out.

"Otomé!" The boy bellowed, hoping he had been loud enough to be heard over the singing. Really, he wasn't going to comb the entirely house, and especially not for the likes of her. But much to his satisfaction, the voice suddenly ceased in mid-sentence a second or two after he shouted.

"On the second floor, you know!" He called again without waiting for any sort of answer. Like he would receive one anyway? But he didn't feel like standing around there for ages while she, too, searched the massive house for him.

Luckily, it only took a water trainer a few minutes to reach him, looking none-too-pleased about doing so, either. Stopping in front of him, she didn't even bother to hide her glare though remained silent, waiting for him to explain himself. But Jet said nothing, simply returning her hostile gaze with another smug smirk.

"What do you want and why are you in my house?" Otomé gave in and finally remarked in a chilly tone.

"You shouldn't leave your doors wide open, you know," He replied as if the open back door completely justified his intrusion.

"Ugh… Fine. But if you stole anything…"

"There's nothing _worth_ stealing in this place anyway."

Aggravated, she bared her teeth at the boy in a feral frown. "What do you want?"

For some reason, he found it more fun to simply annoy and infuriate the girl rather than to kill her. Sure, it had been momentarily fulfilling to have one of his blades pressed against her throat and to see that fear in her bright-colored eyes. But it was almost cute whenever she hissed or glared at him, like he should feel threatened. And the knowledge that she had yet to win an argument oddly made him smile.

'_Because that means I'm better than her,_' He excused.

"I just wanted to know who was singing, that's all," Jet answered with as much innocence as someone like him could muster. "It woke me up."

As if suspecting him of having a mischievous plan afoot, the blue-haired girl eyed her counterpart warily. "And here I was, thinking you'd put two and two together," She sarcastically remarked a moment or two later. "That was me singing, genius. I told you that I had to practice."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he mirrored her frown and returned her look of distrust. "You? Please. Like you could have such a pretty voice?"

The two of them were in a staring contest now. Without blinking, both trainers scowled at one another, Otomé with her hands on her hips and Jet with his arms crossed. But then as if having abruptly decided something, the girl let her hands drop to her sides as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to sing.

"… _I continue to step towards the future._

_Onward! Onward!_

_Cross the seven colors of the rainbow with me._

_Ready? Go! Fly high!_

_With overflowing emotions! _…"

The verse was short, but it was the chorus she had been about to sing when the boy's summons had interrupted her practice. Though with a smug sense of pride, the girl smirked as the dragon trainer could do nothing but stare with a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"See? Told you it was me!" She announced triumphantly, delighted to have finally won something against her would-be murderer.

Though not enjoying defeat, Jet challenged, "I bet it's just a fluke!"

"What?! Don't make me sing the rest of the song! I've been practicing it all morning!" Out of all the things in the world, singing was one of the few that the female teenager was actually decent at, so she was touchy if her skills were doubted.

"Go ahead! I dare you!"

"Fine!

… _I know that if we quarrel with words, it will vanish,_

_And we'll move on, knowing of our dreams_

_And spoken goals._

_The defeats in the evening rain will make me better,_

_Even if my body does not yet appear strong…_"

It was the same verse that had awoken him and made the boy believe he was being soothingly sung to. Though hiding his disappointment of having been wrong, he couldn't help but feel regret that such a dumb girl like her had to have such a beautiful voice.

* * *

Had it not been for that blasted storm, he would've left soon after discovering the identity of the mystery singer. But as soon as Otomé had proved him wrong, they had strangely begun to talk, right there in that hallway. Not argue, but actually talk. For some reason, he had been compelled to apologize as well, telling her with a soft voice that he had not meant to do what he had downtown the previous day.

She had given him a long, icy look before turning away with a sigh and informing him, much to his shock, that she didn't hold it against him. She didn't know why, but she had never been one to hold grudges, no matter what.

"But by Suicune, at least you're not in Team Rocket!" The water trainer had then jokingly remarked, cracking a half-hearted grin. Her slightly unenthused mirth died quickly, though, when she caught his look of shame as he glanced away from her, silent.

"You're… Not… In Team Rocket… Are you?"

After a moment or two, Jet sighed heavily, suddenly looking tired again. "No… Not-" He faltered and took a deep breath before trying to continue.

"… Not anymore."

The saturninity that befell them was almost stifling. He didn't dare look to her. Why should he? Her silence at such information made the expression she probably wore now painfully obvious; her bright eyes were probably brimming with hatred now, them and her deep frown wordlessly accusing him of being a monster. How many seconds would it be before she screamed at him to get out of her house, out of her sight? To leave and never bother her again?

Sure, the girl was dumb, but rejection was rejection and rejection always hurt.

But he was only answered with a sigh. She couldn't say she didn't care, but the past was the past, so what did it matter? Just so long as he didn't try to kill her again, or was secretly in cahoots with Nightmare.

"'Nightmare'?" The male teenager echoed, arching an eyebrow in confusion. Otomé nodded.

"The blonde from Illex Forest. That's Nightmare. His codename or something, I guess." As if to prove that it didn't matter much to her what her foe was called, she shrugged and fixed her eyes on the wooden floor below her bare feet. "He's been after me since… … … Well, for a long time now. A year maybe, I guess."

The reason for her pause intrigued him, but he knew better than to pry into her past.

After that, the water trainer had elected to return to her song practice, bidding her counterpart to stay as long as he wished, so long as he didn't steal anything (again, he had insisted that there was nothing valuable enough to steal). But he took her up on such an offer, hunting out an empty guest room on the second floor once she had disappeared back upstairs.

For the rest of the day, the girl had done nothing but sing. Sprawled out on the bed in the room he had found, Jet had made a game out of figuring out her routine and after a few hours, was certain he had discovered it. She would listen to a song at least a dozen times and pay close attention to it. Then she'd sing along with it and once she was confident enough, she would sing again, only without the help of the music.

But completely unused to such an indoor life, he soon grew restless and eventually found himself outside again, the girl's Pokémon once again collected around the pond and still shooting him misgiving looks. Damned fish.

He had begun to pass the time by sparring with his Salamence out front, oblivious to the gray clouds that filled the sky now. He had momentarily thought it unusual that it seemed to be getting darker faster and earlier than the previous day, but paid no real heed until he felt the first fat drops of water pelt his face.

By the time he had recalled his blue dragon and reached the back porch, the dragon trainer might as well have simply stayed out in the rain that was now coming down in thick sheets, a crack of lightning parting the dark clouds every now and then. Damned nature.

Annoyed by the weather's underhanded trick, Jet stalked back into the house to begin a search for some towels. Sure, he had gotten caught in storms dozens of times back home, but that did not mean he liked staying wet. As he neared the stairs to the second floor, he was greeted by the sight of the water trainer as she came down them herself, looking weary and grumbling to herself about how tired she was.

"How tired can you get from _singing_?" He remarked impatiently by the foot of the staircase with crossed arms.

"Hey, it takes a lot of energy to project my voice loud enough," She shot back, awarding him with a disapproving frown as she noticed the water he was carelessly dripping onto the wooden floor.

"Oh, of course. You're right. It's completely hard work. I've learned my lesson." His tone was cruelly sarcastic and betrayed his agitation. He was in no mood to put up with the girl and her stupid sass.

"You're free to leave anytime you want if you're going to be so rude," Otomé shot back coldly with a slightly hurt glare.

"Hey, Salamence wanted me to stay, so I'll stay, despite whatever silly complaints _you_ have." If only she'd get the hell out of the way. She had stopped halfway down once he had spoken to her and the stairs were only wide enough to let a single person pass at a time. All he wanted was a way to get dry, the water that had soaked into his ebony clothes now chilling him. He hated the cold.

"_**No**_," the female teenager corrected sternly. "This is _my_ home and if I tell you to leave, you leave, unless you want to feel one of Ai's Ice Punches again…" Was she _threatening_ him? Jet couldn't believe she was actually threatening him. How dare she!

"Fine!" He half-shouted, glaring bitterly up at her. "This is _exactly_ why I'd rather be in that storm anyway; People like you!" Whirling around, he stomped back in the direction he had come, the sound of the back door slamming a few seconds later loud enough to be heard over the foreboding thunder.

* * *

So it was late dusk now, the sun having almost fully drowned beneath the horizon and the approaching night's pouring rain. But that did not deter the brunette from catching sight of the dragon trainer as he angrily stormed out from around the house, jumped the fence, and continued on down the road towards the rest of Blackthorn City. The rain was more of a hindrance than the growing darkness.

"Stars, _finally_," She commented dramatically, watching the boy go until she could see him no more. "I was wonderin' how long he was gonna make us wait out in the rain. Bastard." She hated water and fondly patted the long, black neck of her partner when the dark beast crooned pitifully in agreement.

"Let's wait jus' a few more minutes, though, ta make sher he doesn't come back. Then we can grab the girl and get back ta Viridian an' otta this freakin' rain."

Obediently, the pair remained steadfast in their hiding spot just a little while longer. It was almost completely dark before either one of them moved again, a small shadow—possessing something reminiscence of tails—stealthily darting across the concrete road and effortlessly over the white fence. Without a sound, it glided up the front porch and stopped only to examine the lock on the door.

But with ease, the lock was picked and gingerly the shadow inched the door open, just wide enough to allow it passage inside.

* * *

That boy! How dare he! She had been kind and allowed him to stay in her home, even after he had tried to kill her twice, and he had the nerve to be so rude and disrespectful! Otomé hadn't moved an inch from the stairs once Jet had stormed off. Instead, she had taken the rest of them two at a time before throwing herself down into the nearest armchair to brood and fume. 

How dare he!

But in her anger, she had become deaf to the sound of the front door squeaking slowly open and of the rain suddenly becoming louder. She had become blind to any shift in the shadows around her, but luckily, had not become oblivious to the feeling of someone behind her.

"Coming back to apologize, I take it!" She suddenly declared loudly as she jumped around in her seat to stand on her knees and face who she thought was Jet. But when she instead was greeted by the cheeky grin of a strange woman with dark brown hair that was wet and plastered to her pale face, the girl was shocked.

As far as she could tell, the woman was dressed in all black as well, the thin, oval glasses she wore spotted severely with rain drops. Her eyes, full of cunning and ice, were a bright orange and almost cat-like, her pupils vertically elongated in an inhuman way. But those ears…

Where the water trainer supposed normal ears would be, a pair of furry, cream-colored, fox-like ears stuck out from the woman's head instead.

"Apologize fer what?" She replied cheerfully in a strange accent before suddenly grabbing the back of the teenager's head so she could better force a red cloth over her mouth and nose.

Otomé tried to scream, but in taking a breath to do so, she inhaled a strange scent that instantly made her groggy. And the more she breathed, the more she began to lose hold of consciousness, her mind growing increasingly hazy until she finally gave in to the insistent urge to sleep deeply seconds later.

As the girl's struggles for freedom slowed and then finally stopped, the brunette's grin widened, three of her golden-tipped tails wagging gently. "Damn finally. Now ta jus' gitt'er ta Faint an' we can be outta this dumb place already."

Moving around to the front of the chair, the fox-eared woman then let go of her prey, allowing her to fall backwards and into her waiting arms instead.

"Damn. You just' hafta be heavy, too, don'chya?" She complained to herself as she struggled to get a good grip on the blue-haired teenager now draped limply in her arms. But her enhanced instincts barely managed to move the brunette out of the way as a blast of what appeared to be air charged through the space she had once occupied and hit the opposite wall, deeply cracking the painted drywall.

"_Get away from her!!"_ Omi hissed savagely from the staircase's banister before launching another psychic blast. The slicing attack, however, quickly dissipated when the brunette turned to face the feline and used Otomé as a shield; if the blast were to hit, it'd directly hit the water trainer instead of the intruder.

"Hey, aren't you Tuusun's Espeon?" The woman remarked with a smirk, her ears pressed back against her damp hair. Arching her back, Omi's fur stood on end.

"_Your looks have completely changed, but your voice still remains the same, Hebi Oni!"_

"I'm touched you remember me." To aggravate the Sun Pokémon further, the newly christened Hebi Oni chuckled as if she had just been told a joke. "But you see, the Boss wants back what's rightfully his, so he's sent me to get it, seeing as Nightmare keeps failing and all…"

"_I'll kill you before you even make it out of this house!"_

"You're on, snaggle tooth!" With reflexes as quick as the lightning outside, the brunette whirled around and was already bounding down the hall she had come before Omi had a chance to comprehend and follow. But despite her superhuman senses, the woman was still cutting it close, barely managing to avoid quite a few of those deadly psychic blasts.

But quickly, Hebi Oni learned and by the time she burst back out into the heavy rain from the front door, she had begun to use the water trainer as a shield whenever she felt that she would be unable to dodge an attack. Merciless and cruel, yes, but one could not expect anything greater from ones like her.

"FAINT!" The brunette bellowed at the top of her lungs as she bolted back across the street after barely managing to hop over the fence again. Swiftly, the black beast was at its mistress's side, crouched down low to the ground to allow her to toss the unconscious Otomé over its broad shoulders and then clamor onto the dragon's back herself.

"Up! Up!" Hebi Oni ordered as she lightly dug the heels of her boots into her creature's sides. "That damned cat discovered me an' is probably gonna follow us er somethin'!"

Without dallying any longer, the ebony reptile snapped open its wings and sprang into the sky with a strong thrust against the wet ground, not enjoying flying in such rain one bit but knowing that it was essential unless they wanted to be caught.

But it was only mere seconds before an angry roar challenged them. Twisted around, the fox-eared woman frowned when she saw a teal-eyed, golden dragon charging into the air after them.

"Damnitall!" She slurred in an annoyed manner. "I don't get paid enough for this! Faint! Faster! A damn Dragonite is after us!"

Growling at such news, Faint proceeded to beat her wings faster as commanded, trying in vain to outrun such a mythical Pokémon. But Dragonites could circumnavigate the globe in under sixteen hours, so it wasn't long before Kin was almost literally right on the strangely-colored beast's tail.

Roaring again, the golden dragon suddenly launched a long stream of flame from her fanged maw despite the hard rain, aiming straight for the brunette's back. Hissing at such perceived insolence, the darker reptile folded both its wings and dropped downwards in a stomach-turning manner in order to avoid the assault.

"Oh fuck!" Hebi Oni shouted in surprise as the Flamethrower passed inches away from her head, before clutching onto her dragon's neck to avoid being thrown off from such an abrupt dodge. "Arg! Fuck this! We'll do it the easy way!"

From inside the trench coat she had been wearing to deter the falling water droplets, the fox-eared woman pulled out a minimized Great Ball, promptly restoring it to its normal size and releasing the creature within.

With a flash of red light that mimicked the lightning, a humanoid figure was suddenly crouching on the dragon's back, behind Otomé but in front of the kidnapper. Even in the night, its golden skin and large, ivory mane of fur around its neck were clearly visible, its triangle-shaped ears pointed permanently upwards as though it were always alert.

"Psyche! Teleport us outta here!" Barked Hebi Oni as soon as her Pokémon has finished materializing. "I will not be shot down by a damn Dragonite!"

The woman refused to move even a single tense muscle until her Hypno nodded and closed its eyes, its large body beginning to glow softly as it readied its power. Confident that they would now be escaping easily, she then twisted back around to face Kin.

"See, unlike Nightmare, and Lorwave, and all those other idiots," She shouted tauntingly. "_**I**_ actually think ahead! Toodles!"

The echoes of the brunette's victorious laughter was all that suddenly remained of the Dragonite's quarry, but even that was quickly drowned out by the booming thunder of the storm.

* * *

**A/N:** The song that Otomé sings is "Ready Go!" by Naomi Tamura, and is the fifth opening song for the Japanese version of the Pokémon anime. To state the obvious, I didn't write it or anything like that, but it's such a nice song. :3

And if it's seemed like I've missed a closing italic tag, then I have no idea why and it refuses to be fixed.


	6. When A Serpent Dances With A Madman

People in Johto were really stupid, weren't they? As a blast of fire high above drew Jet's attention skyward, he couldn't help but wonder who in their right mind would use a Flamethrower during a rainstorm. That was just one step below trying to light a match underwater. But upon catching sight of the golden body from which the flames seemed to have come, he suddenly felt a sense of dread.

What was that Dragonite chasing? The boy could hardly tell, fore not only was the creature as dark as the night around, it was flying incredibly fast as well, almost nothing more than a blur of black, red, and… Blue? Unbelieving, he attempted to rub the raindrops from his eyes in order to get a better look. He could've sworn he saw a flash of bright blue on the dark beast's back.

But the creatures were already far ahead of him now, the Dragonite suddenly seeming to rear up in the air before roaring and beginning to glide in circles. It wasn't until the golden dragon then began flying back in the way it had come that the teenager realized that the black creature had vanished somehow, and that the chase had started in the same direction he was sulkingly walking away from.

Stopping in his tracks, Jet simply stared at the watery road beneath his feet. No… It was just a coincidence that the two creatures had come from _that_ direction. And the blue… It was just a trick his mind had played on him. And the Dragonite… Well, that was just a coincidence, too. After all, he _was_ in the city of dragons. The Dratini Evolute could've been anyone's! Hell, it could've been wild, too!

But as hard as he tried to convince himself, he just wasn't believing any of it. Sure the coincidences were strong cases, but the glimpse of that blue made him uneasy. He had only ever seen that shade in two places; the day-lit sky and _her_ hair. Sighing in a frustrated manner, as if it were the water trainer's fault for his decision, the boy turned on heel and followed after the Dragonite, though did not go faster than his previous pace. If the girl _was_ safe and he _had_ been wrong, he did not want to seem like he had cared.

By the time he finally was in eyeshot of the blue house, he felt his heart begin to sink. The girl's beasts—minus that blue and yellow fish thing from yesterday—were all gathered in the front yard except for Kin, who was on the other side of the fence. But regardless of where they were, the creatures seemed to be in discussion of something and didn't notice him until he had stopped a few feet away.

"What hap-" Was all he managed to get out before an angry hiss interrupted him.

"_YOU! This is all YOUR fault! You traitor! You Rocket!"_ Omi accused, fangs bared at the dragon trainer as she thrashed violently in an attempt to get free of Ai's strong grasp. The Feraligatr had her clawed paws around the Espeon's shoulders and was holding her tightly while shooting the teenager a slightly apologetic look.

"I'm NOT a Rocket!" Jet shot back in just as hostile of a tone. "What the hell happened?!"

But silence ensued as the watery creatures looked helplessly to one another. How could they fill the boy in on their situation when he would not be able to understand a word they said? Only Omi had the ability to speak to humans in their own language and she was currently too enraged to be of much assistance.

Their eyes, now, were set on the Sun Pokémon, who didn't seem to notice the sudden attention as she began to gnaw on one of Ai's scaly fingers in an attempt to force the reptile to loosen her grip. With a humorless grin, Ai abruptly shook the feline for a few seconds.

"_Stop being petty and tell him what happened,_" She ordered in an unamused tone. "_Now is not the time for rage._"

Hissing, the Eeveelution dug her claws into the Totodile Evolute's hand, continuing to resist until Ai shook her around again and refused to stop until she agreed to aid them.

"_Fine! Fine!"_ With her tail twice its normal size due to the bristled fur, Omi turned her violet eyes back to Jet and began to explain. _"As soon as you left, Team Rocket swooped in and took Otomé! What did you do? Leave to give them the all-clear?"_ Such a bitter remark earned the cat another disapproving shake.

"I'm NOT apart of Team Rocket, you jackass!" The dragon trainer snarled. If it had not been for that Feraligatr's protective grasp, he would've impaled that bastard cat on his sword already. His anger fogged his mind, though, so it took a minute or two for the news of the water trainer's kidnapping to take hold. Once it had, he felt his heart sink, but quickly told himself that he had no heart, no compassion. Why should he care?!

"How do you know it was Team Rocket anyway?" The boy inquired with distrust, giving the Espeon a glare that mirrored his tone.

"_Because I recognized her kidnapper, you idiot_," Omi retorted coldly. _"It was Hebi Oni of Kanto."_

The Hoenn branch of Team Rocket was severely cut off and isolated from the rest of the massive organization, so the codename only rang a minor bell in Jet's mind. All he knew was that Hebi Oni was an Executive, one reputed to be fast, cunning, cruel, and _young_.

"So what? You just let her waltz in and take Otomé?!" He didn't bother trying to mask his harsh, condescending tone. At the accusation, the psychic cat hissed again.

"_NO! I tried to get her back, but that blasted woman would use her as a shield! I couldn't land a hit unless I wanted to harm Otomé instead!"_ The insulted and indignant manner in which the feline replied betrayed that he had struck a nerve. So the little hellion felt guilty for letting the Rockets get a hold of the girl? Though to his curious dismay, it wasn't even close to explaining _why_ the Rockets wanted her to begin with.

Cruelly, the dragon trainer dismissed Omi's excuse for failure. "Whatever. Which way did they go? I hate letting Team Rocket get their way."

The six Pokémon all looked surprised by his words. Was he volunteering to find their mistress and return her to them? But the fact that someone like _him_ seemed to care so much was suspicious. Didn't he hate the water trainer? Even spiting Team Rocket was not a good enough reason to want to save her anymore. If he truly _was_ a traitor to Team Rocket, then going back to face them could very well cost him his life.

"_Mahogany,"_ The Espeon answered cautiously. _"But I doubt that they're there. Hebi Oni probably only went in that direction to throw us off."_

In a slightly frustrated manner, he growled. "What the hell do you mean by that?!"

"_For one, Hebi Oni is extremely proud. Having been born in Kanto, she thinks that Kanto is king. Hence why you never hear reports of her crimes happening anywhere __**outside**__ of Kanto,"_ She elaborated, gaining another misgiving look from Jet.

"_Two… … … Just trust me. They'd take her to Kanto, to Viridian probably."_

The cat was acting incredulous, that long pause only further proving that she was hiding something. Probably the reason why the Rockets would want such a stupid girl like Otomé at all!

"Fine! Then I'll go to Viridian!" The silver-haired teenager announced after studying the lavender feline with leery eyes. When he turned to leave, however, Omi stopped him.

"_Now? Are you retarded?"_ He growled at the insult.

"_They'll be expecting you right now, just like they expected you to leave in the first place."_ Closing her large, omniscient eyes, Omi sighed wearily. _"Our best bet would be to wait until at least morning and hope that by then they think we're not coming and have relaxed their guard. Viridian is dangerous for us… Only the best soldiers are there, including the four Executives. One slip-up…"_

Regardless of his cause, Jet was still not too happy about going back to Team Rocket.

* * *

Her head was pounding, throbbing painfully like there was a jackhammer at her temple. The ground below her felt hard and cold to the touch, though the latter didn't bother her one bit. She had always been tolerant of the cold, chalking up the reason to having been born in the mountains. Her blood was thick, so she was insolated, she had always figured. But it was all so dark.

Reactively groaning, Otomé shuddered and flipped over onto a side to better curl into a ball, hands and knees to her chest before she finally eased her eyes open. She felt dizzy and nauseated and had no clue where she was, but other than that she seemed fine. But it was all so dark.

After taking a minute to refocus her eyes, the girl finally began to survey her new surroundings. She seemed to be in a cell of some sorts, the walls behind her and to her side composed of solid concrete while the one in front of her was nothing but thick, iron bars, like a cage. Across from her she could see other cells of the same construction, but they were empty. Was she completely alone in this strange, dank dungeon?

"Oh, finally. Yer awake."

The fine hairs on the back of the water trainer's neck stood on end as her ears filled with that familiar voice and much to her dismay, the fox-eared woman stepped into view from the left. Only now with nothing to obstruct her sight, Otomé noticed that the woman also sported quite a few sleek, cream-colored tails with golden ends. One, two, five six… There were too many for her to count.

"W-What are you?!" The girl stuttered in a slightly frightened way as she bolted straight up into a sitting position. "W-Who are you?! Where a-am I?! And what do you w-want with me?!"

Without emotion, the brunette grinned toothily. "The name's Hebi Oni an' I'm the Executive of Intelligence an' Reconnaissance. Nightmare kept failin' too much, so the Boss sent me ta git ya instead." As if proud to have accomplished a task the blonde Executive had been unable to, her apathetic grin turned into a smug smirk.

"An' stop lookin' at me like Imma monster er somethin'," Hebi Oni barked when she noticed the fearful looks Otomé was giving her. "I'm still human… Mostly."

"What… What are you, then?"

The brunette frowned and eyed the girl, as if there was more to her inquire than simple, innocent curiosity.

"Imma Pokémorph," She finally answered. "A human with Pokémon DNA. I'm almost half Ninetales, so they call me a Ninetalesmorph." For a reason she could not identify, this intrigued Otomé, a million and one questions running through her mind now.

"Were you born like that?"

"No, I was born a normal human. But I betrayed the Team an' this was my punishment. Morphin', they called it. Took a year an' a half before they thought I was loyal enough again ta stop and take me back." But the frown Hebi Oni wore made it seem like she was unhappy with something. Though before the Blackthorn native could inquire further, the woman continued on.

"An' don't ask me why yer here, either, 'cause whatever issue involves you was before my time. I was jus' followin' orders." Stepping closing to the bars, the Executive looked down at the prisoner with slight pity. But quickly, she stepped back and turned away.

"Anyway, I'm goin'. Yer alone down here, but if Nightmare starts botherin' ya, just scream or something," She advised as she disappeared from Otomé's line of sight, her boots resounding heavily in the deserted dungeon. "Boss thinks he's makin' it too personal an' doesn't feel like losin' his money, so he's forbade the idiot from dealin' with ya. But like he'd listen?"

"Wait!" The girl cried, scrambling forward to wrap her hands around the clammy bars of her cell. "Wait! Where am I?!" But her only response was her own echo.

* * *

The dragon trainer hadn't slept much that night, though refused to admit that it was because he was worried about that dumb girl. Why should he be? She was annoying and frustrating and stupid and had big mouth! He was only going to go after her to spite Team Rocket! But…

Staring blankly up at the ceiling (fore it had been wordlessly agreed upon that he would spend the night in the blue house), the reason behind the crime organization's interest in the girl still plagued his thoughts. She was innocent, probably having never committed a crime in her life. Her Pokémon seemed rare and strong, but if that had been the reason then why hadn't Hebi Oni taken them, too? No, no matter what he came up with, it just didn't make sense.

But that Espeon, Omi… She probably knew. Oh, it was as obvious as his worry for the girl. That cat knew exactly what was going on and exactly why her charge had been targeted, but damn her for keeping her mouth shut! As soon as he rescued the girl, he would get the truth from that feline, even if he had to cut it out of her!

Adrenaline and anxiety kept his mind hazy, however, so the next few hours were nothing but a blur of sights and voices, none of which he really saw or heard. All he could focus on was getting in and out of Viridian City without causing too much of a ruckus. The last thing he needed was to have Executives after him too.

They were on the outskirts of the slightly large city now, just him and Omi. The cat had teleported the two of them there fore she knew the city well enough to be able to do so. '_We can't teleport to places we've never been or seen, though,_' she had then explained further. But even from so far away, they could still see the top massive Viridian City Gym.

"I guess now we gotta find a way to sneak in," Jet remarked more to himself than to that devil cat.

"_And run the risk of setting off an alarm?"_ She threw back, causing him to once again narrow his eyes down at her.

"Got a better idea, genius?"

"_How about we just teleport inside, O' Great One?"_ Yes, as soon as they got back to Blackthorn, he would beat the truth out of the Espeon, including how she knew the interior of the Rocket Headquarters.

"Fine. Then let's teleport," The boy agreed coldly. "The more time you spend blabbing, the more time they have to do whatever to Otomé."

Rolling her eyes, Omi ignored his rudeness in favor of concentrating her mental powers. Teleporting more things than just herself took focus. After being outlined by a soft, purple glow, the two of them then vanished in the blink of an eye. But almost instantly, she felt her mind begin to stray, her focus on getting them inside the Gym safely waning as the journey that should've taken mere seconds dragged on.

Something was fogging her thoughts and even slowly blocking her powers. Had the Espeon been in possession of enough clarity at that moment, she would've realized that even after waiting out the night and the rain, they had still walked into a trap. Luckily, she unwittingly released her powers and allowed herself to be pulled in whatever direction the haze was taking her and in doing so also released the dragon trainer from her guiding, psychic grasp.

Hopefully he would end up in a beneficial place.

Roughly, Omi summer-salted through the air and crash landed on a fine-woven rug, a large, black desk looming up over her like a great beast. As the fog in her mind dissipated as quickly as it had invaded, she then began to realize what had happened.

"I figured you'd try to sneak back in," A deep voice admitted with a chuckle. Looking up, the feline hissed and arched her back when her eyes met with Nightmare's.

* * *

That damned cat. Had she tricked him?! Teleported him alone into the den of his enemy as some sort of cruel joke?! Yes, Jet would definitely strangle that little hellion, just as soon as everything would stop spinning. The interrupted Teleport had disoriented him and to make matters worse, he had collided head-first with something much more large and solid than he.

So now dazed and with the beginnings of a headache, he was sprawled out on a cold floor, the room around him dim. There was a soft humming. And empty chairs gathered around a barren, circular table. And the thing rising from the floor by his feet—most likely what he had struck—was… Was..

A snack machine?

Groaning, the boy covered half his face with a hand and propped himself up on the other.

"Where… In the seven hells… Am I? Where did that fucking cat take me?!"

But he froze when another humming reached his ears, one less mechanic than the snack machine's and more lively. Someone was coming, but not only was he still too befuddled to act, there wasn't any place for him to hide, either. The small room—probably a break room or something—was bare. All he could do was tense up and wait.

"Make nneeewww, but stay in the llliiinneess. Just let it ggoo, but keep it iiinnsssiiiiddeee."

From around the corner a brunette woman appeared, the eyes behind her thin, oval-shaped glasses closed as she strolled into the room with her hands hidden inside the pockets of her baggy black jeans. But her ears… They were like a fox's, and tails…! She had tails!

"Smile bbiigggg for everyooonnee, even whheenn you know what they've dddooo-Aiye!" Both she and Jet yelped at the same time when, having not been paying attention, she accidentally stepped on him. While she jumped back, he jumped up and the two glared at one another.

"Oh, it's jus' you," The strange woman remarked suddenly with lidded eyes and a strange accent.

"What the hell?" He was lost. "What do you mean, 'it's just you'?! Who the hell are you?!"

"Quite demandin', aren't ch'ya?" She replied with a chuckle, moving closer but turning away from the dragon trainer in favor of facing the snack machine instead. Idly she withdrew a wrinkled dollar from a pocket and carefully fed it into the machine.

"Who-?!"

"Hebi Oni," The Ninetalesmorph immediately interjected as she punched in a combination of keys. "Stop askin' already, stars… Sound like a broken record."

"Hebi…?" Oh, what a lucky break! Now it would be easy as pie finding Otomé. "You! You're the one that-"

Again, the brunette interrupted him. "Yes, genius, I'm the one. But no, I'm not gonna take ya ta 'er. I don't need ta give anyone around here a reason ta not trust me."

Threateningly, Jet took a step forward, hoping his reputation preceded him. "You'll take me to her, or I'll kill you."

Hebi Oni simply rolled her eyes defiantly as she bent down and stuck a hand past the bottom flap of the snack machine to retrieve the bag of chips she had just purchased.

"Ya can't threaten an Executive, kid. Especially one as awesome as me."

Straightening up and turning away again, the halfbreed began to stroll away again, lightly struggling with her bag of chips as she attempted to pull it open. Annoyed that his intimidation had failed, the silver-haired teenager thought quickly and followed after the Rocket. There had to be some way to force her to take him to the water trainer.

"So... Uh, why'd you come back, anyway?" He began, trying to recall what Omi had said the night before about the Executive. "Or perhaps you _enjoy_ doing Grunt work?"

"Oh, go burn in hell, ya traitor," Hebi Oni retorted though still with her back to him. "I didn't come back ta take orders, but it's somethin' I have ta do if I wan'ta eventually _give_ orders." Angrily, she threw a few chips into her fanged mouth.

"Then how about we make a deal?" The boy suggested with a smirk, glad to know that he seemed to be annoying the Ninetalesmorph at least. "You take me to her and I won't have my dragons tear you to pieces."

Short tempered, the brunette spun around to face the wickedly grinning ex-Rocket. "Let's git one thing straight, ya so-" But a loud, soprano scream suddenly echoed down the hall they had been walking in, causing Hebi Oni to curse colorfully in a language that was more guttural than English before sprinting off, still in the direction they had been going. Nimbly, Jet followed after her.

Within minutes they both were charging down a set of stairs and into a damp, chilly dungeon full of lonely holding cells. Every long, barred door was closed and locked except for one, towards the middle on the left. But such a detail was unimportant to the boy, whose eyes immediately flew to a terrified-looking Otomé who was darting nervously around the massive room in her best attempt to evade the familiar blonde-haired man that was chasing her.

Snarling, the dragon trainer unsheathed his slender sword as Hebi Oni shouted aggravated, "Nightmare! Leave her alone! You know the Boss's orders!" Her accent was gone, each word now enunciated properly. But the blonde paid his fellow no heed, instead pouncing upon the blue-haired girl as the sight of Jet distracted her momentarily, allowing him to hurl her against a stone wall and pin her to her with a large hand tightly around her throat.

He would kill her. It was all her fault. If she hadn't been such a failure, none of it would've ever happened. But it had, and so he would kill her. He'd make her feel every shred of pain he had felt. It was only fitting. But first, he had to deal with the two traitors. Surely, they would try to stop him!

So as the brunette and the boy charged forward, Nightmare swiftly took out a Great Ball he had had hidden and released one of his many beasts; a sinister, ebony canine as big as a small person, with two large, ivory horns curling out from its head and a motif reminiscent of a ribcage in a dirty white on its back.

Viciously, the hell dog snarled as it stood between its master and the two perceived enemies. But knowing its intimidation would not work forever, it suddenly charged forward and spat a scrawny stream of eerie, purple fire at the two. Hissing, Hebi Oni shoved Jet out of the way and dodged to assault herself.

"Fuck! It knows Will-O-Wisp! Nightmare, you bastard!"

But the blonde Executive could not hear his peer. No, he was too focused now on slowly cutting off Otomé's air supply, taking great pleasure in watching her attempt to gasp for oxygen but failing, her lips gradually beginning to turn a shade of blue that matched her hair.

With one cyan eye squeezed shut and the other barely open, the water trainer tried in vain to loosen the man's iron grip around her throat, desperately clawing at his hand and struggling despite how doing so only made her suffocate faster.

She felt cold, like ice was running through her veins. She couldn't feel her feet or her hands; she was slowly going numb. Was this how it felt to be choked to death? Why was there a pain in her back, too, as though she was being stabbed between the shoulder blades? Had Nightmare decided to draw blood as well and her oxygen-deprived brain just hadn't registered it? Really, that pain in her back was excruciating. She wished it would stop…

Victory was in sight now. Nightmare was smiling like the devil himself as Otomé's thrashing lessened and lessened. That dumb boy was screaming, but he could be dealt with later. But then it was all like slow motion. There was the sound of tearing fabric. A sudden rush of air. The blonde felt himself being pushed back, his grasp around the girl's throat weakening and breaking all together.

The next thing he knew, he was sprawled out on the cold dungeon floor, blinking up dumbly at the tall ceiling above. His Houndoom was still snarling, Hebi Oni was laughing madly, and finally Jet had ceased his rageful screaming. Hissing in pain, the blonde Executive sat up and immediately whipped his head around, stopping only when his gaze fell upon the water trainer, shocked.

She, too, was collapsed on the stone ground, but on her stomach, and was coughing and sputtering like there was no tomorrow, gasping loudly as she tried to pay the debt of oxygen that was owed her deprived body. The silver-haired boy was at her side, sword still gripped in one hand as he glanced over and shot Nightmare a death glare. But none of that mattered. It was all significantly unimportant when compared to the pair of large, dusty blue wings that had sprouted from the girl's shoulders blade area, as though they had been there all her life.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, I realize I have a different view of Pokémorphs than most. But in my 'Verse, the word "Pokémorph" is an umbrella term that simply describes the product of a genetic experiment involving Pokémon. Stemming from this term are two more specific ones: "Halfbreed Pokémorph" and "Anthromon".

A Halfbreed 'Morph is what Hebi Oni is; a human with Pokémon DNA in them. An Anthromon is the anthromorphic Pokémon you always see commonly associated with the word "Pokémorph".

But for the sake of the story, from now on when "Pokémorph" is mentioned, unless otherwise stated, it is referring to Halfbreed Pokémorphs.

And the song Hebi Oni sings to herself is "Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard. xD


	7. Mesmerized By Truth

Jet had been just as stunned as the other two Rockets when the large, blue wings sprang out from Otomé's back, the force of such pushing her away from the stone wall and luckily forcing Nightmare to break his death grip on her throat. But those wings… Was that why Team Rocket wanted her? Did they mean she was not human, but rather something… _Else_? No, they explained nothing, rather only filling his racing mind with a million more questions as he swiftly made it to her fallen form in three long bounds.

Crouching down to one knee, he gripped his sword tightly in one hand while reaching out another to the water trainer. But when one of her new feathers brushed his skin, he instantly withdrew his hand, deciding to glare daggers at the blonde behind him instead. Hebi Oni's maniacal laughter was getting on his nerves, too. What the hell was so damn funny about the situation?!

"I git it!" The brunette announced between her bouts of insane mirth. "I git it now! _That's_ why! I thought y'all had given up on that project! Nightmare! Still hurt by what Tuusun did, huh?"

"Shut up, you traitor!" The blonde Executive hissed poisonously at his cheery junior.

"An' they say that _women_ are the bitter ones!"

Now the dragon trainer was glaring at both Rockets. What in the seven hells were they talking about?! What project? Who the hell was this Tuusun fellow? How had he scorned Nightmare? And why the hell did that blonde bastard feel the need to take it out on the poor girl at his feet?! But when said girl groaned painfully, her sputtering and coughing now having ceased for the most part, his attention was drawn to her instead.

"Otomé…" Gingerly, he reached out a hand again, gently (or perhaps reluctantly?) placing it on one of her tanned shoulders. "Otomé… Are you alright? Can you stand? Or even speak?"

It felt strange to see her bright eyes look up to him and suddenly fill with relief, a weak, silent smile curling her lips slightly. Was she _happy_ to see him? _Him_? No, that wasn't it. She was probably just happy about being able to breathe again. No one was ever happy to see him. And had the boy not sensed the compression of air behind him, he would've told himself so when Otomé's look changed from one of mitigation to one of fear and terror.

Still crouched, Jet whirled around on a single foot, growling in annoyance as he was required to look almost directly up to glare at the towering blonde before him. Now having recovered his wits, Nightmare sported a pair of long daggers with ridged blades, one in each hand. Though technically out-numbered, he would still not give up on his endeavor to murder his prey that morning, would he?

"Out of my way, boy," The blonde Executive ordered darkly.

"Fuck off!" The male teenager spat rebelliously in reply. "You're not getting her unless you want to die!"

"Fine," The older man admitted as he narrowed his blazing eyes. "I'll kill you first." But he remained rooted to his place, not daring to strike, when there was a metallic clink and Hebi Oni interjected.

"Actually, the idiot's right, you know."

Once again, her strange accent was gone, now replaced with a more cosmopolitan voice. "Though I really don't need a reason to kill you, actually having a valid one makes me look better and doesn't cast as much suspicion…"

Smirking wickedly, the brunette had a scratched, yet still gleaming, .45 silver Colt pistol pointed directly at her fellow Executive. For seconds that dragged on like hours, all four of them were silent; Jet confused, Nightmare indignant, Hebi Oni smug, and Otomé unable to speak even if she wanted to. But then as the sound of several pairs of running feet, as well as feminine grumbling, reached their ears, all attention shifted to the only entrance and exit of the clammy dungeon, which was then soon filled with dark-clad Rocket Grunts led by a voluptuous redheaded woman in a black, strapless dress and matching high heels

Halting a few feet from the doorway she had entered with the recruits waiting behind her on the staircase, she started tapping a petite foot as she glowered at the scene before her.

"What the hell is going on here?!" She demanded in a high, lofty voice, dark eyes darting from Hebi Oni, to Nightmare, to Otomé and Jet, then back to Hebi Oni.

"Ah, Lorwave!" The brunette Executive greeted as though nothing were wrong with having a loaded gun pointed at one of her peers. "I was takin' a break when I heard a scream from down here. I rushed ta checkit out and what do I find? Nightmare disobeyin' the Boss's orders ta leave the girl there alone." Her accent was back.

Still glaring, Lorwave turned her hard gaze to the blonde, who looked ready to kill his fox-eared junior.

"The Boss told you to stay away from Dream for _a reason_, you know," She informed him.

"Oh? For what?" He shot back in a challenging manner. "She's still a failure! She's not any different from the disgrace Tuusun _first_ created!"

"That may be so, but she is still Dream and perhaps her flaws can be fixed…"

Great. The silver-haired teenager gripped the hilt of his thin sword again. He had no idea what the hell these crazy Rockets were talking about or how it applied to Otomé, but he didn't need to comprehend their inside information in order to figure out that the situation did not look good for him or the girl. There was no way to escape and surely even he could not fight while so heavily out-numbered.

He growled fiercely and got to his feet when Lorwave ordered a good number of the Grunts to surround "the intruder and Dream", also pulling the still mute water trainer up with him. Dumb Espeon. This was all her fault. She had purposely delivered him—no, both of them—into the hands of the enemy, hadn't she?! No matter. He would fight. He wouldn't let them have their way.

Though while no one was paying attention to her, Hebi Oni stowed away her gun and noiselessly took a few steps back, allowing herself to be swallowed up by the crowd of lowly Grunts as she grinned wickedly. She couldn't let them have their way, either.

Seconds later, before any blows could be exchanged, the brunette suddenly shouted in worried surprise, "No! Psyche! Don't! Get back here!"

All attention was on her now as she pushed back through the Grunts in pursuit of her Hypno, who had somehow freed itself from its Great Ball and was now teleporting hither and thither around the spacious, one-roomed dungeon in an attempt to evade its mistress. When it reappeared behind Otomé and Jet, though, all the Rockets—with the unnoticeable exception of Hebi Oni herself—tensed. That damned psychic wouldn't… It wouldn't _dare_…

Chuckling in a high-pitched voice, the golden creature suddenly began to chant and swing the circular pendant attached to a string it always carried.

"Hyp… No… Hyp… No… Hyp… No…"

When it noticed the many eyes of the entranced crowd begin to droop, the Hypno chuckled again before closing its own eyes, seemingly concentrating for a moment. Suddenly, with a soft popping sound, a limp and most likely knocked-out Omi was draped upon Otomé's head like a living, furry veil. And before any of the ebony-clad Rockets could shake off their stupor and realize what was happening, Psyche chuckled again, and the four of them—it, the two teenagers, and the Espeon—vanished in the blink of an eye, Hebi Oni's own malicious chuckle replacing that of her errant Pokémon's.

* * *

If he hadn't known any better, Jet could've sworn that it had just been a bad dream. That that blasted storm had never started and that he and Otomé had never argued and that she had never been kidnapped and almost killed and suddenly grew wings. Such a lie seemed more believable when he abruptly awoke to a dark, lonely room, his sprawled-out form on the neatly made bed the only occupant. Though almost regrettably, this notion was shattered when he felt something in his hand and looked over to see that he was still clutching his unsheathed sword.

No, it had all been painfully real. So then where was the blue-haired teenager?

Letting go of his weapon and careless of the hallow, clunking noise it produced when it landed on the varnished wooden floor below, he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, standing just as he felt a slight weight press down gently against the top of his head.

"_I see you are awake finally…"_

Hissing, he made a quick grab for the Espeon, aiming for her throat so he could hurl her across the room like she deserved, but like lightning the damn thing teleported away again before his hands could reach her, reappearing a moment later on the slender nightstand that was placed to the right of the now wrinkled bed.

"What the hell happened?! Where's Otomé?!"

As if knowing he would demand those answers, Omi closed her large eyes and dipped her tiny head once.

"_Hebi Oni saved us. Her Hypno teleported us to Cinnabar Island, and once I had regained my senses, I teleported us back to Blackthorn. Otomé is resting in her room on the floor above us."_

Determined to not let the relief he felt at hearing that the girl was fine and safe show, the dragon trainer continued to coldly grill the cat for explanations.

"I meant back in Viridian! With that teleport _into_ the Gym! What the fuck did you do?! Fall asleep?!"

Her tail swished sharply at such an accusation. Opening her eyes, Omi dared to boldly lock chilly glares with the boy before her.

"_No. Nightmare had still been expecting us, so halfway through the teleport he started blocking my powers. I barely managed to send you away before he blocked them completely, or else you would've ended up with me."_ Her usually monotone voice was held a touch of insult.

Though still convinced that the psychic cat had sent him head-first into a snack machine purposely, the teenager simply growled at the answer she gave and allowed a moment of silence to come between them before then demanding to know why Otomé had sprouted wings, why Nightmare wanted to kill her, who Tuusun was, what Nightmare had meant when he called the girl he was killing a failure, why everyone had-

"_Slow down,"_ The Eeveelution suddenly interrupted, bowing her head and shaking it as though hearing his list of questions made her dizzy. _"One question at a time."_

"Fine," He agreed gruffly, sinking back down onto the edge of the bed and crossing his arms. "Why does Otomé have wings? What the hell is she?"

Wearily, Omi exhaled deeply, her head still hung as though she wished she didn't have to give such an answer. After another quiet pause, Jet growled impatiently and was about to demand a reply again when the cat finally lifted her head and looked over to him.

"_She is not fully human, I will say now."_

"'Not fully'? So she's still _some_ human?"

"_Yes. She, in fact, is exactly like Hebi Oni; a Pokémorph and a cleverly disguised one at that."_ But this revelation made little impression in the dragon trainer's mind. Watching him blink and frown cluelessly, the Espeon sighed again and elaborated.

"_A Pokémorph is a human with Pokémon DNA in them. Hebi Oni is a Ninetalesmorph, as a big majority of her DNA is made up of the DNA of a Ninetales."_

It took a few seconds for the boy to wrap his head around this alien concept, but once he had, he inquired, "So what's Otomé?" He had to growl again when Omi became reluctant to say for a second time.

"_Let me… Let me explain what she is entirely first…"_

"Then do so!" Dumb cat. Did she have to stall so much?

"_Otomé… Is a genetic experiment, commissioned of my late mistress sixteen years ago by the Boss of Team Rocket."_ She spoke slowly, her advanced mind dashing a mile a minute as she calculated just how much of her vast amount of knowledge on such a subject she should divulge to someone who could really be considered nothing more than a stranger.

"_The Boss was angry that his original weapon, a clone of the legendary Mew, had become self-aware and rebelled. He had spent a large amount of money in creating it and you can bet that once it escaped, he desperately wanted it back. But what in the world could stand up to its seemingly infinite psychic might? So he went to my late mistress, the new Executive of Science at the time fore the Mew clone had killed the former when it escaped, and asked her to create something powerful enough to combat the unsecured clone and either bring it back to him or destroy it if need be._

"_My mistress accepted the challenge and immediately began work. She, too, was puzzled by what in the world would be that strong. Legendary Pokémon, she came to conclusion and so decided to start with the same Mew DNA that had spawned the clone in the first place. But if she just created another Mew clone, the two clones would probably then just get locked in an evenly-matched stalemate. So looking to the other legendaries of the world, she decided to combine Mew's DNA with another specimen's."_

Taking a breath, the Eeveelution stopped in her reminiscent narration for a moment or two to allow Jet ample time to absorb and comprehend the story thus far. Once he nodded, she continued.

"_For reasons even I am not sure of, my late mistress settled upon Articuno. Perhaps she thought that the bird's control over ice would be useful? Or perhaps she just was fond of the creature all together? Regardless of the reason, she soon found herself with failure after failure as the two DNAs would seem to fight and attempt to destroy one another, which led to the slow, painful deaths of many experiments. She needed something to act as a buffer between the Mew and Articuno DNAs, and thus looked to… … Human DNA to do that job._

"_By now, it had been four years. Four years of never succeeding. But once the human DNA was introduced, the Mew DNA and the Articuno DNA ceased combat. The human DNA was like no-man's land that each one could invade individually to enhance…"_

Struggling to keep up with the Espeon's quick speech, Jet shook his head and held up a hand to stop her from further explaining.

"Wait, wait. What? I didn't get that last part…"

Rolling her eyes as though he was an idiot for not understanding, Omi replied, _"The Mew DNA could merge with the human DNA momentarily and give it some of its powers and abilities. Same with the Articuno DNA."_

Still not fully comprehending the complexities of such genetics, the boy simply pretended he did and shrugged before allowing the feline to continue.

"_Anyway, so my mistress finally found a stable mix of DNAs that, in theory, would give her creation an edge above its prey. And five years after first being commissioned, she finally began work on the creature itself._

"_To simplify matters, she gave it a human body though allowed the two foreign DNAs to… Customized it, if you will… The Mew DNA made the creature female, despite how the human DNA had been taken from a male. And the Articuno DNA colored her hair a bright blue. It also would've made her eyes red, had my mistress not decided to use the creature's eye color as an indication of what DNA was in control of its body."_

Closing her own violet eyes, Omi tilted her head back slightly and as if quoting someone, continued.

"_Dark blue for the human, light blue for Mew, and red, naturally, for Articuno."_

"If the Pokémon DNA could merge with the human DNA, then couldn't both of them merge with it at once?" To the teenager that seemed obvious. How was the creation—that was starting to sound eerily familiar—supposed to beat the Mew clone if it could only access one power at a time? Surely if it could wield both Articuno and Mew's powers at once, then it would easily be unstoppable!

Aggravated by the interruption, the psychic cat twitched her two-tipped tail.

"_In theory, it probably could,"_ She admitted. _"But then the power of both legendaries combined could've easily overwhelmed the human DNA, and if anything happened to the human DNA, it would affect the legendary DNAs as well."_

"Well that's dumb," Jet remarked with a frown. "If it could only use one power without knocking itself out, then why give it two powers at all?"

"_**In theory**__, I said,"_ Omi replied testily. _"Now can I continue?"_

Narrowing his eyes at such sass, he reluctantly nodded, but added, "And hurry up. Just get to the point already. Gods, you talk too much."

Barely managing to keep her temper in check, the Sun Pokémon continued the story without retort.

"_The creature she created was a young girl, around the age of ten. The Boss was getting impatient, but my late mistress could not spawn a creature at an older age, lest they run the risk of the creature turning out to be slower in the head than a Slowpoke. Since her creation looked like a normal person, my mistress decided to give her a name…_

"_Her family name would be 'Yumé', the family name of the human from whom she got her human DNA. But it was not until she discovered that her creation was as sweet and docile as any little girl, with eyes like a bright cyan rather than a dark blue or sky blue or red even, that my mistress gave her a first name…"_

Cruelly, she trailed off for a moment and eyed the dragon trainer. He was staring intently at the cat, unaware that he was holding his breath. He knew the secret right away when he heard of the creature's last name, but for some reason found himself hoping he was mistaken and simply jumping to conclusions.

"_You know, that was the name of the project, too,"_ Omi suddenly stated, unfazed when Jet growled for the umpteenth time at her. Why did she have to stall and beat around the bush so much?!

"'_Yumé'… It means 'Dream' in the language of my mistress's homeland… So they called the project 'Project Dream'…"_

"That's nice and all, but the Mew, Articuno, human thing's name, please? What was it called?"

"_**She**__,"_ The Espeon finally correctly. _"Due to her sweet nature… Was given the name of 'Otomé'… Meaning 'Maiden'."  
_

* * *

**A/N:** By Ho-Oh, Omi _really does_ talk too much. - A- So to make up for that cat's blabbing, another chapter! 


	8. And Dead She May Well Be

Until the next morning—a mere day before she was scheduled to sing—Otomé had adamantly refused to emerge from her room at the very top of the powder blue house. Knowing the truth now, Jet gave her the space she seemed to want, but Omi was relentless in badgering the girl to stop hiding from the world. Hearing such callous words only strengthened his resolve to one day strangle the cat.

He was alone in the backyard of the large house, perched upon the same branch he had been the previous morning, when he heard the gentle squeal of a door and glanced down to spot a shy and unsure Otomé now standing on the back porch, clothed in a knee-length sundress of a pure white fabric as her wings sagged heavily at her sides. The new muscles were still much too weak to support such a mass of bone and feathers.

For a brief moment, the boy looked away from her, unsure of why he did so, but not daring to wonder. Then without being asked, he slipped down from his branch, landing like he always did before cautiously approaching the newly discovered Pokémorph. As he did so, he vaguely mused what she would be called… A Mewmorph? An Articunomorph? A Mewticunomorph?

"Ah, you… Look nice," He complimented from the foot of the three steps that led to the porch, telling himself that he only said such so she wouldn't be so self-conscious of her new appendages. Surely if she constantly fretted over how she looked, it would soon grate on his nerves and reignite his desire to kill her.

Meekly, the water trainer accepted her counterpart's unsure praise, softly adding as she examined her dress's hem, "It… Was the only thing I… I could wear with my… … My wings… Nothing else I own has… No back…"

Never been one to freely speak, Jet didn't bother constructing a reply and simply let the silence settle over them, both trainers looking everywhere but at each other. Now nervously wringing her sundress's hem with her slender hands, Otomé stared intently downwards, wishing fevorantly that her stomach would stop its nauseating flips.

"Um… T-Thank you for…" Though she trailed off, the dragon trainer glanced up when he was addressed. "… For saving me…"

Frowning, he shook his head and cast his ocean-colored eyes away. "I didn't do anything. It was all that dumb, tailed Rocket… If it hadn't been for her Hypno…"

"But you still came for me…"

It felt strange to be thanked. It had never happened before, so the silver-haired boy was unsure how to react. He felt anxious; like he had swallowed a block of freezing ice. There was a soft buzzing in his mind, one that he couldn't get to stop. Suddenly, he turned away from the girl and fixed his gaze on the expansive backyard, staring out at nothing without uttering a single word. This action puzzled the Blackthorn native, but before she could nervously inquire, he had turned back around and fluidly climbed the porch's steps, insisting that he had had no hand in her rescue as he disappeared inside.

Sadly frowning, the female teenager kept her bright eyes on the closed back door before sighing wearily and turning her own gaze to the yard. Why had he stopped? What had he been looking at? He'd probably never tell her, though. He seemed so secretive…

"'Otomé', was it?"

Pulled from her crestfallen thoughts, the water trainer was caught off-guard when she was suddenly addressed by seemingly nothing, the voice that had spoken masculine, but not deep or hoarse. Oddly, it reminded her of honey, sweet and sly, but it made her uneasy.

Cyan eyes darting about in an attempt to find the speaker, she nodded and confirmed with a nod, "Ah… Yes. 'Otomé'…"

The voice chuckled, sounding out her name again, but more slowly. "Oh… Toe… May… It has a nice ring to it… But I am not here to compliment you."

Sharply, she turned her head to the left. It had sounded as though the voice had suddenly started coming from a different direction. But as soon as she had changed the trajectory of her gaze, she froze, eyes suddenly widening. To her left stood a Raichu, grinning up at her in almost a false way. But it was no ordinary Raichu. Oh no, its fur was a pitch black, its markings a dark red rather than the normal yellow or brown. The color of its eyes reminded her of blood but as though the strange coloration was not enough, the electric mouse sported a single small, white wing and massive, pristinely ivory claws on one paw.

With instinctive fear, Otomé took a few steps back from the freak creature.

"What… What in the name of Suicune…?!"

"I can't have you ruining my plans, you know," The creature interrupted in a matter-of-fact tone as he closed his eyes. "I've worked too long, too hard to let you do that…" Reopening his eyes, the Raichu chuckled when he observed the girl's fearful look.

"Come now, I am no enemy," He insisted sweetly. "You may hold power, but even if you knew how to use it, you wouldn't last three seconds against me, I'm afraid…"

Power? What power? What in the hell was that thing talking about? Regardless, the water trainer did not like how the creature seemed to know so much about her. And boldly, she let him know her confusion, which caused the thing to chuckle again.

"You don't know a single thing, do you? Aw, poor girl. Maybe you should ask Jet… Or that Espeon of yours… They've talked about it…"

"Jet?" This got Otomé's attention as she warily studied the strange Raichu and frowned. "These plans of yours… Wouldn't happen to… _Involve_ him, too… Would they?"

The creature's smirk widened. "You're sharp… But I cannot tell you much about them, I'm afraid, lest you go spilling them to that _fiend_… But I guess they include you, too, now, since you seem so be so actively destroying them…"

Not enjoying the road down which this conversation was going, the blue-haired teenager narrowed her eyes slightly at the Pikachu Evolute, awarding him a misgiving look. 'Fiend'? He was talking about Jet again, wasn't he?

"These plans better not including harm befalling them, I hope…"

Smiling wickedly, the creature rocked back and forth on his long feet. "How sweet you are, caring about the safety of your little boyfriend more than your own? It's at times like this in which I must wonder where the hatred for Pokémorphs stems from…" Standing still now, he added, "As for the harming… I'm not sure. I haven't really worked that part out yet…"

Dumbly, Otomé blinked. "'Care for his own safety before my own'? What…?" Frowning, she pursed her lips together and thought for a moment, before asking again, "Does… Does that mean if I'm not in danger already, then I will be?"

"Exactly! Glad you understand!" The Raichu chirped cheerfully.

* * *

Omi had found it strange to hear the back door shut and look up to see not Otomé, but a tired-looking Jet sulking towards her. With nothing more than a sigh, he flopped down into one of the plush armchairs slightly across from the chair the cat herself was in, and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. But she said nothing and simply let the boy rest in silence, returning to her own napping.

But after a small while, she lifted her head again and glanced around, as though expecting something. Not finding whatever she had been looking for, the cat turned her gaze to the still resting dragon trainer and ask, _"Where's Otomé?"_

It took a moment for him to reply with a shrug, "I dunno. I left her on the back porch."

"_Why hasn't she come inside yet, then? Nothing's in the back yard and I know she doesn't like to be alone…"_

"Maybe she went into town," The boy suggested in an annoyed manner. But the Espeon dismissed this.

"_Boy, she has giant wings. With all the hatred Pokémorphs get, would YOU want to go out into public if you were her?"_

Opening a single eye and glaring at the feline, he had to admit she was right. He was surprised the girl had even dared venture out of her room at all. He wouldn't've. So as Omi jumped down from her hair, he stood from his own and followed her as she strolled down the hall to the back door.

"What could it be then?" He inquired with nonchalance. "Surely not the Rockets… They wouldn't dare to strike so soon again…" He reached out a hand to open the back door, but as soon as his fingers touched the knob, the boy immediately withdrew his hand as though he had been shocked.

"_What is it?"_ The Sun Pokémon at his feet asked in a slightly worried voice.

"Not the Rockets," He growled, suddenly agitated. "Definitely not the Rockets." Grasping the knob again and flinging open the door with unnecessary force, Jet stalked onto the back porch, stopping beside a surprised Otomé and glaring over at the strange Raichu, as if he had known that the creature was there all along.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He muttered darkly, frowning. The electric mouse ignored how displeased the boy seemed and replied innocently.

"Just discussing some… _Things_ with your friend here… Isn't that right?" He looked over to the girl with amused, yet cold eyes.

"If by 'discussing' you mean 'threatening', then yes," She replied dully with lidded eyes. Rolling his eyes, the Raichu spoke before Jet could.

"You're all so boring. How about we make a deal?" Met with nothing but silence, he continued. "How about joining me… In my plans… Nobody needs to be hurt… No _secrets_ between you two as there are already… Why, we could become the most powerful beings in the world… I could teach you two to use your powers…"

The dragon trainer snarled, not lured by the creature's smoothly spoken promises. "You better shut your mouth, rat!"

Having gotten lost a few sentences back, Otomé simply blinked once or twice. "That… What? What, are you aiming to take over the world?" Sadly, she sounded completely earnest rather than sarcastic as one might expect. The Raichu shook his head.

"Take over the world? Oh no! Most certainly not. But I should've figured…" Smirking, he set his chilling eyes on the silver-haired boy. "Power won't tempt you… You gave up wanting it a long time ago… And she…" With a slight frown, the electric mouse examined the girl.

"… She is too _pathetic_ to seek it…" As though this observation disappointed him, the Raichu ruffled his wing. "Oh well. But I have no more time to waste on the likes of you two…"

"Wait!" Trying to pretend she that wasn't angry at the creature's insult, the water trainer asked in a slightly hurt voice, "What are you?" This provoked another smirk from the ebony creature.

"Why… You may call me Shadowflare… I am the only perfection this world has… An _Angel-Demon_. But until we meet again!" And without warning, he vanished in the blink of an eye, obviously knowing the art of teleportation.

* * *

Once the strange Raichu had disappeared, Otomé had appealed to Omi to tell her what she really was. Why did she have wings? Why was Nightmare after her? Why? What was she hiding from her? Defeatedly, the Espeon sighed and began to walk away, bidding the Articunomorph to follow. Desperately, the girl looked to Jet as if he held an answer, but when he refused to meet her gaze, she dejectedly followed after the Sun Pokémon.

How long the two were gone, the boy did not know. The only thing worse than his sense of time was his social skills (or rather, lack thereof). But they had finally returned as the sun gleamed high over the mountains, the girl looking sorrowful and allowing her wings to drag pridelessly on the dusty ground.

"_Now all that's left… Is __**your**__ secret,"_ Omi has mentioned to him softly as she strolled past and disappeared back into the house, leaving the two trainers alone now. Sighing, he glanced up to Otomé, examining her gentle yet ashamed face even though she would not look to him in return.

After a long pause, he commented, "I guess it's too obvious to hide now… But…" The dragon trainer faltered, reluctant to say anything more, but knowing he had to. "I… I'm not… Human, either… Fully human, I mean…"

When the water trainer said nothing, though finally set her gaze upon him, he continued.

"I'm… A halfling, too. Half human, half… … Half demon. There… Aren't any pureblooded demons left these days… Only… Halfbreeds like me, and even then nobody's really sure how many, because they all look like normal humans… Hell, I might even be the last… I didn't know what I was for the longest time…"

Expecting Otomé to have recoiled away from him in disgust, he was slightly amazed to look back to her and discover that not only did she remain rooted to her spot on the porch, but she… Seemed somewhat interested. Cautiously, he continued on.

"For some reason, Team Rocket knew, though… But it didn't really matter. While demons are powerful killing machines, the Rocket's genetic experiments usually turned out stronger… I mean, look at you… Omi told me about the power you have…"

Suddenly growing self-conscious, the female teenager averted her gaze away from her counterpart's, but still dared to look to him out of the corners of her eyes, just in case he took her action to mean disinterest.

"But then somehow they learned the immense power of Angel-Demons like Shadowflare… And realized just how precious my blood really was. They proposed giving me that power… To make me like Shadowflare… They thought that by giving me such power they could control me and make me their pawn…" Heavily, Jet sighed, suddenly finding the porch's wooden planks intriguing.

"Demons don't want power, though… They want blood. Their instincts were to be aggressive… To fight… To kill anything they sought… _My_ instincts…"

As she listened intently, his ashamed look tugged at her heartstrings. But now she understood why he had tried to kill her, in the Illex Forest and just yesterday even… It wasn't anything personal against her… He just hadn't known any better, had he?

"I don't…"

He steeled himself for rejection again when Otomé began to speak.

"… I don't think any less of you, though… I still see good in you…"

Frowning and still refusing to look at her, the dragon trainer turned away from his peer and mumbled, "Then keep thinking that until the day you die… Which could very well be soon and by my own hands… There is no good in me… There never was and never will be."

* * *

**A/N:** Two chapters in one night. Oh stars. Cookies if you've gotten this far and aren't "WTFsux"-ing. I know it seems kinda that way (or maybe I'm just being paranoid?), but… Like I said, it's an RP. And there's no way in the seven hells I could've cut out Jet being a Halfling or that which is Shadowflare. Both are way too integral to the main storyline (hell, Shadowflare's STILL a main villain, even four years later).

But, I _did_ accidentally start typing what will be the first paragraph of chapter nine before deciding to end this chapter where I did. :D


	9. A Dark Mix of Revelation and Longing

They had argued again. With her usual optimism, Otomé had insisted that Jet was neither as evil nor a monster like he painted himself to be. But he refused to listen. He knew what he was and her words would not change that. Believing what she said would simply give him false hope that would serve only to let him down later on and crush his fledgling faith. And he didn't need that happening. Not again.

Finally, she had given up though, stalking back into the house with a frustrated growl and leaving the dragon trainer all alone in the empty backyard. By the time the girl had started singing again, her silvery voice echoing down from the third story of the house, he had already positioned himself back upon his customary branch, his Salamence out of its Pokéball and staring down at the waters of the large, deep pond.

"_It reminds me of Mossdeep… The water,"_ The blue behemoth suddenly remarked. _"We should go back there one day… And your girlfriend… Didn't she mention she wanted to travel? We could bring her along!"_

Pulled from his thoughts, Jet glared down at his beast, obviously annoyed at having the water trainer be referred to as 'his girlfriend'.

"We're leaving tomorrow!" He barked in reply. "How could we bring anyone anywhere in a single day?!"

A stream of bubbles began to surface in the pond, the water beneath them slowly darkening. Curiously, the Salamence stared down at this odd space. But when a pair of red eyes abruptly appeared under the water, the dragon only had a second or two to move out of the way before that blue and yellow fish-type Pokémon from before surfaced with a noisy splash.

"_I couldn't help but overhear,"_ It explained shyly in a high-pitched, feminine tone of voice. _"But… Nothing says it would have to be over the course of a single day…"_

Both dragon and trainer stared at the self-conscious creature, who began to flap its front fins to and fro nervously as it awaited a response. The Bagon Evolute, however, wasn't sure what the fish was talking about while his master hadn't even understood it to begin with. After only a moment or two, what the creature was referring to suddenly clicked in the Salamence's head and he chuckled.

"_She says we should stay longer,"_ The beast translated for his master, causing the fish to take on a shocked look.

"_N-No, that's no what I-!"_

"Just one day," The silver-haired boy replied roughly, drawing out his switchblade from a pants pocket and beginning to toy idly with it. "We're leaving tomorrow."

"_No harm in staying longer,"_ A fourth voice added. Upon immediate observation, they found that Ai was strolling towards the trio from the front yard. _"I mean, if we can't find a way to make 'Mé's wings disappear… We might be leaving soon, too…"_

Moving over to the side of the pond across from the Salamence and taking a seat, the Feraligatr stretched out and dipped her clawed feet into the cool waters. Watching the fellow reptile, the dragon pondered her words for a few moments before frowning. How to make one's wings disappear? Though he knew nothing about these… _Pokémorph_ things, he did have wings himself.

"_Ah… I guess I can't help you with that,"_ The azure beast finally admitted woefully. The massive Water-Type dismissed this apology though with a wave of a large, finned paw.

"_No worries. From what Omi tells us, Pokémorphs are complex creatures. I think it would be hard to tell where the Pokémon DNA ended and the human DNA began anyway… For now, if anyone asks, we'll just say it's part of a costume or something…"_ She shrugged. The Salamence frowned again upon hearing this makeshift excuse.

"_Hopefully it's believable,"_ He began thoughtfully. _"I mean, those are real wings and costumes… Well, you can tell those are fake… Unless you're filthy rich and can afford to have someone make you some realistic-looking wings with, like, real Taillow feathers or something. And if that's the case, then I'm all for ditching the whole 'traveling with Jet' thing and staying here…"_

From his tree branch, the dragon trainer glowered down at his beast. He may not understand the maiden's watery creatures, but he sure as hell could understand his own. But neither three of the blue Pokémon paid the boy any heed. Instead, Ai grinned toothily.

"'_Filthy rich'? Us?"_ She chuckled. _"Oh, definitely not."_

Confused, the Salamence tilted his head. _"Then… How did you end up with a place like this? It's huge! It must've cost a lot…"_

The Big Jaw Pokémon frowned as she debated the best way in which to answer his question. _"Well… The house actually belongs… __**Belonged**__… To Otomé's mother. And Omi always told us that she came from a wealthy family somewhere on the other side of the world. So I guess… It's Otomé's mother who was rich… Not us."_

The Dragon Pokémon was quiet as he thought this over. _"'Belonged'? 'Was'? You speak as though…"_ He trailed off at Ai's sad nod.

"_Otomé's mother is deceased,"_ She confirmed. _"Only a year ago, at the Lake of Rage…"_ All three Pokémon were silent, the two Water-Types reliving the memory while the Dragon-Type was left to wonder just what had happened.

"_So if,"_ The Salamence started again. _"… So if her mother is… Gone, then… Wouldn't that mean... That Otomé now owns all her riches? You know, inheritance…"_

"_If she was of legal age,"_ Replied the Feraligatr.

"So just how old is she?" Jet suddenly interjected, having feigned disinterest to the gossiping Pokémon, but secretly overhearing every word and attempting to decipher the topics of conversation based on his dragon's responses. Glancing up, the Totodile Evolute studied the boy for a moment, her look returned with a glare.

"_She just turned sixteen a few weeks ago,"_ She answered cautiously. _"How old are __**you**__?"_

"_He's eighteen!"_ The blue beast chirped after translating the response and before the teenager could tell the other reptile to mind her own business. _"But I'm older!"_ He was awarded a dirty look from his master.

"_He better be careful, then,"_ Ai warned.

"_Oh? Why?"_

"_He's legal, 'Mé's not. She's jailbait for him!"_

As the two behemoths roared with laugher (the blue and yellow fish was too confused to understand the joke), Jet shot them both looks of death. He couldn't comprehend what was so funny, but he had a feeling that whatever the joke had been, it had been at the expense of his integrity.

* * *

For much of the rest of the day, Otomé had been practicing her singing, locked in her room and determined to succeed. Over the course of the afternoon, the rest of her watery team had join the Feraligatr, Salamence, and Lanturn by the pond, each one stealing glances at the dragon trainer every now and then. But as the hours wore on, his dark eyes had grown increasingly dull, a frown slowly tugging at his mouth, as though he were in a daze.

If only he had gotten his fill of blood at Viridian City… If only that damned Ninetalesmorph hadn't interfered and simply allowed him to kill instead… And now he couldn't do a thing to satisfy the bloodlust welling up within him. If he slipped away to find a victim, he would surely be blamed for whatever bad that happened. And if he harmed anyone… He would never be forgiven.

"As if I would anyway," He muttered to himself, idly glancing over to the pond and finally noticing the stares of the water trainer's team.

"_He may as well be a vampire the way he craves blood,"_ Miho remarked in a smooth voice, Ai nodding in agreement. Paranoid that the creatures were passing judgment, Jet suddenly shouted at them.

"What the fuck are you staring at?!"

"_He's right, you know,"_ The Salamence agreed drowsily, having fallen asleep for an hour or two previously. _"Nothin' to see here but your average dragon trainer…"_

"Gah, what are you shouting at?" From the porch, Otomé stood with her arms crossed, her voice slightly hoarse from the constant singing of the past two days. "Or are you just shouting for no particular reason?"

Growling, Jet jumped down from his perch and shot the creatures of the deep a loathing glare before taking a heavy step towards the newly discovered Articunomorph. Had she not appeared at that moment, that dumb water serpent would've had her head lopped off, regardless of the consequences. But as it was, he wasn't exactly happy to see his counterpart either.

"Does it really matter what the hell I'm shouting at?!" He shot back angrily. "What do you care?!"

"Because this is **my** home and I will not tolerate disrespect!" She challenged boldly.

"You should have known this would happen when you invited someone like me!" The male teenager growled before whirling around. But he only got a few steps before abruptly stopping. No, running would do no good. Last time he had stormed off, he had come back to an empty house, hateful looks, and the news of the girl's kidnapping. So he stayed put, though did not turn around to face any of the sapphire-toned creatures behind him.

"I knew," She replied softly, her eyes unmoving from his back. "But I'd appreciate it if you didn't take your anger out on my Pokémon…"

"I didn't do a thing to them!" The boy protested fiercely, ignoring her suddenly docile tone. "Not a damn thing… And if I had, I would've made sure you could've seen the gore!" The sixteen-year-old narrowed her bright eyes at her counterpart's sadistic declaration, but was interrupted before she could utter a sound.

"You should really learn to control your anger…"

Spinning around, he expected to see a third person in the group now, but instead saw nothing. Just Otomé and their Pokémon. But that Dragonite of hers… Kin, or whatever… It was sitting up and staring straight at him, her teal eyes sporting a slight purple undertone. It… It wasn't the one who had talked, though… Was it?

"Not everything in this world can be controlled," He replied gingerly, eyeing the golden beast. "And it doesn't take a genius to know that my anger is one of those things."

"Everything can be controlled with enough force, enough willpower," The Dragonite replied fearlessly, causing the eighteen-year-old to stare dumbfoundedly. It... Could talk as well?! Or perhaps he was just going insane…? "But to do so for your rage would require more effort than you're willing to give, so it's easier to just do nothing and make excuses, right?"

Glaring at the Dratini Evolute for a moment, Jet suddenly and surprisingly grinned. But it was a malicious grin, with a sadistic glint in his eyes. "Oh yes. Of _course_. Sure it can be controlled," He agreed, glancing around with a look that spelt trouble. "To think I almost forgot…" He settled his wicked gaze on the water trainer and grinned wider.

In an instant, the four of Otomé's beasts with legs jumped up, but her whole team growled a warning as one, claws, fists, and fangs ready to strike.

"_Violence is not the answer you know,_" A ruefully familiar voice remarked. Quickly, Omi appeared in sight as she jumped up onto the railing that lined the porch, a glow in her eyes dimming. Surveying the cat warily, the dragon trainer then looked back to Kin, whose eyes were once again completely teal.

"You're right," He replied darkly, not enjoying the fact that the Espeon had been controlling the Dragonite. "It's a way of _life_… … But…" He paused and sighed. "I… I wasn't going to hurt her…"

"_Then why look to her in the same manner as you did back in Illex Forest when you had your sword against her throat?_" The psychic feline countered sharply.

"So that you all understand what I'm going to do about this!" He raised a hand upward and glanced down at the switchblade he still held. "You say control my anger, you say don't hurt anyone… Yet I can't live like that. But you know… I can _compromise_ with you instead… I never said a demon has to spill the blood of _others_…"

Dumbly, the group simply stared at him, his riddle not comprehending within their minds. But when he suddenly placed the blade against the wrist of his other hand, the boy's words suddenly made sense for Otomé. Dashing forward a few steps, she gripped the railing and leaned out far over it, almost toppling over had her wings not been there to balance her.

"Are you insane?!" She cried, eyes wide in horror. "Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Jet replied with a mix of amusement and irritation. He paid no mind to his dragon as the beast leaped to his feet and gave Otomé a helpless look, unknowing of a way to stop his seemingly self-hating master. "What do _you_ care?! All you want is so I don't hurt anyone else! Nobody would give a damn about me, though, so why should I?!"

"Because I _do_ care! I really do!" The girl's Pokémon looked slightly dismayed at this confession of their mistress's. The boy was bad news for her, yet she refused to let him go. "I know I shouldn't and it's silly for me to do so, but I _do_ care about you! You're a friend to me! You saved me from Team Rocket!"

Jet hissed at her words. "**Liar!** You only care about what I could become! Not what I _am_, not _who_ I am…!" He pressed his switchblade harder against his wrist, though covertly took care to make sure it didn't draw blood. At least, not yet.

But oh, how stubborn that boy was! Did he truly refuse to believe that her care was _not_ out of self-interest? Such an assumption insulted and hurt the Blackthorn native, who could feel the tears stinging her dry eyes already. Why wouldn't he believe her?

"By the grace of Suicune, _**I don't give a damn about what you could become!**_" Otomé shouted in a shakey voice, slipping under the railing of the porch in favor of standing on the ground instead. It would make reaching him faster should he decide to do anything stupid. "And as much as you try to deny it, it won't change the fact that I. Care. About. You! As a person! _**As who you are!**_"

"You only care about _**who**_ you want me to be! About _**WHAT**_ you want me to be!!" The dragon trainer returned angrily. In the back of his head, he was sure that the whole region of Johto could hear them screaming at one another by this point. "You want me to stop being angry, to stop being violent; every single word you say is just fucking lecturing me about it!"

But his accusation struck a nerve with the Articunomorph, who drew back slightly and took on a look of hurt. "So what? Should I stop caring?" She hissed in a voice that mirrored her expression. "That's what you want, right? To be alone? To have no one care about you? About your safety? Your wellbeing? To have no one see the good in you?"

There was nothing but a tense silence, however. How was he supposed to reply to that? What could he say? He was unsure why, but the thought of being alone now pained his heart. The girl before him had been the first person he had found himself unable to kill, no matter how hard he tried. She had been the first to stand up to him, to not recoil in fear or disgust at his past, at his genetics; the first to not reject him, to be happy to see him, the first to thank him and treat him like a normal person.

"No…" Jet answered softly, looking away as he let his switchblade slip from his grasp and fall to the dusty mountain ground with a muffled clatter. "No… That's not what I want…"

"Then what _do_ you want?" Otomé pressed, her voice breaking. "I try to help you, but you push me away! What will it take to prove that I _do_ care?!"

Hating how pitifully desperate she sounded, the male teenager shook his head grimly and still refused to meet her gaze. "Life's too complicated for you to worry about this… I'll be gone by tomorrow and then you can go on and live your life without hassle…"

Somewhat reluctantly, he finally glanced up, though instantly regretted it upon seeing the look his counterpart wore; it was heart-breaking, those tears shining in her cyan eyes. But he hadn't time to react, as abruptly the girl bolted, running past him and disappearing around the side of the house, eyes shut tightly.

"O-Otomé?! … You've got to be kidding me!" Frowning, the dragon trainer followed after the fleeing girl without second thought, running as well, much to the surprise of the Pokémon that had been watching the whole anxious ordeal.

"_He's… Going after her?"_ Miho stated in a confused manner, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events. But Omi's sudden burst of laughter turned all attention to her a moment later.

"_So__I am correct in assuming that he might care as well?_" The cat inquired to no one in particular between her mirth.

"_Of course!"_ The Salamence answered cheerfully. _"Though… I think it's more than just simple __**caring**__…"_ His wicked smile brought another round of laughter to the psychic cat, both creatures oblivious to the wrath they could face should the dragon trainer ever find out that they had been referring to him and his counterpart as lovers for the umpteenth time.

* * *

"Otomé! Wait! Stop!" His command was futile, though. Not only was the Blackthorn native not listening, but he'd probably catch up with her soon enough anyway. Spending years of his life as a thief and a Rocket had given the boy a great deal of speed. But he wanted to 'ask nicely' first, as well. Judging from the look she gave him before running, she would not appreciate being forced to stop and held down.

"What in the world is wrong with you, darting off like this?!"

Much to his surprise, as the Ice Path drew nearer and nearer, Otomé slowed and then finally stopped all together, breathing heavily but abstaining from facing him as the dark entrance of the Path—still a good distance away—dwarfed her slender form. With her blue wings lifeless, she bowed her head and rubbed her eyes against a bare forearm.

"I… I don't know…" She confessed as she heard Jet come to a stop behind her, also breathing heavy but not as hard as she was.

"You don't?" He sounded disbelieving as he took a few steps closer. "Of course you know…" Frowning as the water trainer still turned away from him, the male teenager decided to step around and face the girl. "Just calm down and tell me…"

"I-It's nothing…" She insisted, not daring to meet his gaze.

"Didn't look like nothing to me," He replied, tilting his head in slight confusion. He couldn't understand why she was avoiding telling the truth. After all, people just didn't give heartbreaking looks like that then run off, all for no reason at all. But he wouldn't give up, would he? He'd keep asking until she gave him the right answer, wouldn't he? Otomé was surprised, however, at how gentle his voice had become, a stark contrast to the rageful shouting from a few minutes ago.

"It… It…" Pausing for a moment, she then sighed and finally looked up to him, her gaze a tired one. "I… Was frustrated…"

His heart sank upon hearing those words, as he knew full well just what she was frustrated with. But bravely, as if hoping to be proven wrong, he responded as cluelessly as he could, "Frustrated? At what? And tell me the truth." He added the last part in a stern voice.

"At…" She hesitated and looked away again. "At… Your faithlessness… Not you… And yes, there's a difference."

"Oh? And what's the difference, pray tell?" Frowning, he turned his head to meet her cast away gaze, having a hard time trying not to glare at the insult he perceived. In response, the water trainer turned away from her counterpart again, hands on her elbows now.

"It's frustrating when you won't believe that I care about you," She finally confessed. "And about you the person. Not you the ex-Rocket or anything like that… I just don't understand why you won't believe me… And yeah, you may be a halfling, but so too am I! So that must make us two of a kind!"

Jet simply shrugged and shook his head, frowning at Otomé's assumption. "But your other half doesn't crave blood… Your other half is… Pokémon and mine… Is demonic… We're not two of a kind. There's a huge difference between us."

Mimicking his frown, she half-turned to looked up at him again. "But we're both half human. Why focus on the differences when there's similarities, too? I mean, we're both trainers and we both have Dragonites… And my mother always told me that it's the sum that matters, not the difference."

"As if being trainers or having Dragonites means anything about who we are," The male teenager remarked with a slight roll of his ocean-colored eyes. "Differences matter and I doubt it's a good idea to compare yourself to _me _anyway, Otomé…"

"But you're a good person, too!" The female teenager suddenly declared in an almost pleading fashion, the remorseful look in her bright eyes forcing him to avoid her gaze. For some reason, he couldn't stand seeing her like that. "You were once part of Team Rocket, sure, but I'm a _Rocket experiment_! So another similarity!"

"Being a Rocket means doing bad. Being a Rocket experiment means having bad done to you," The dragon trainer rebutted, steadfast in his opinion that there were no similarities between them. He was sinful and she was sinless. They'd never be on the same level. Looking over to her, he regretted doing so again as he was met with another sorrowful look before his counterpart hung her head in a defeated manner.

Frowning, he was speechless. What could he say? For a second time, no words came to his mind even though he knew he had to do something. Finally abandoning his pursuit of a reply a few moments later, Jet resigned himself to silently reaching out and daring to place a hand against Otomé's cheek, slightly surprised at how soft her skin was. Gently, he tilted her head back upwards so he could see her bright eyes and offered a weak smile.

She, however, was caught off-guard by the action, her shock, as well as amazement, showing clearly in her cyan gaze. But in moments her surprise melted away as she returned his small smile.

"If there's one thing that's similar between us," The blue-haired girl began softly, as if speaking too loud would ruin the moment. "… It's that we both need someone, whether you want to admit it or not."

"_Well_," The eighteen-year-old replied loftily, dropping his hand back to his side but still wearing his uncharacteristic smile. "I guess it's too late to even attempt to argue _that_ one… But big deal. It's _one_ similarity." Stepping past the girl, he began to retrace their steps, pausing only briefly to allow the Articunomorph to catch on and scurry to his side.

"But I guess we better get back home," Otomé remarked, now grinning widely. Though she mentioned nothing about the agreement they had just reached. "Knowing my lot, they're probably taking bets on us for something diabolical…"

Smirking, Jet shook his head and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I have a feeling I'm not going to hear the end of this for a long time…" He complained playfully.

* * *

**A/N:** Awwwwww! Though I suppose it did me no good to be listening to their _love songs_ while typing this. ::Totally spam-listened to Tonic's "If You Could Only See" for the majority of the time.::

Anyway, just a quick note. If y'all haven't checked out my profile recently, I've added up some links to a few of the many, many TDD artworks I have. So if you can't picture how Otomé or Jet or Shadowflare or whonot look, then feel free to check it out. :3


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